"After considerable analysis, we determined that the next chapter in the long and successful story of the Post should be found on the Web," said Rich Boehne, Scripps executive vice president and chief operating officer.

Kentucky Post staffer Kerry Duke will stay on to be the site’s managing editor. The site will employ one fulltime reporter, freelance journalists, as well as use contributions from citizen journalists.

The shuttering of the two print newspapers comes at a time when Scripps is trying to spin off its newspaper division to keep its more profitable TV operations running.

"It's a low-cost approach, but if you want to maintain the presence, it's probably the only alternative," said John Morton, an independent newspaper industry analyst based in Silver Spring, Md. "It's better than going out completely, and clearly there is opportunity there."

As print newspapers struggle with declining ad revenues, the rise of online-only newspapers has begun (see MinnPost.com in Minneapolis, Rue89 in France or the Taloussanomat in Finland). Or read here about 'Are onlin-only news sites a threat or an evolution of newspapers?'

Source: Mediapost – Yahoo News (AP)