Five predictions regarding Fayetteville's newspaper merger

There are two newspapers in my town, the Morning News and the Democrat-Gazette (aka the NWA Times). There's a merger though, and many are worried that the switch to a one-newspaper town will be a blow to our democratic process, but I think moving to a one newspaper town is actually going to be good for our community.

Five predictions regarding our newspaper merger

I think if we look forward to year or two from now, after the merger, we will see a reporting environment that is more robust, with a higher level of accuracy and greater agility in its response to stories.

So with all of that in mind, I want to make some predictions about the effects of this merger.

1. Journalists will get laid off from newsrooms. But more of them will “go rogue,” and when they do, the local newscape will be drastically enhanced by their freedom to direct their own stories.
2. The resulting newspaper will begin to respond to competing publications. They will be faced with the choice: begin acknowledging online publications as legitimate news sources or undermine their own credibility. This is a simple matter of technological superiority. Online tools allow publishers to transcend the 24-hour news cycle, opening a market for newshounds and conversation addicts. Since the members of this market are often the most active members of the community, the resulting newspaper will not be able to ignore what has been published online.
3. Those who get nearly all of the local news from one newspaper will no longer be able to consider themselves informed. In fact, this is no different than it is now. If you're only relying on one source for your news, then you are oft-misinformed. It is an inconvenient fact. If you consider being informed your duty as a citizen, then you need to get your news from multiple sources. As we move to a one-newspaper town, that means going online.
4. The newspaper will lose its position of dominance. It will never lose its legacy, but it will cease to have a majority of local news-consumers. Like a stock market bubble, it's growth is stretching so thin that it is about to pop. And it will, as soon as there are enough independent publishers to restore balance to the system.
5. Independents will form their own ad network. And it will be the moment when independent news producers prove local commentary can be a livelihood for any dedicated writer. It will be a moment that only further accelerates the growth of the independent news market, and it will scare the newspaper to death, unless they do it themselves and figure out how to build trust into their system.

To sum up, I guess I see the merger as a growing pain: difficult to accept but a necessary step in the evolution of our local newscape. Can anyone successfully argue that having more independent reporters would actually be worse for our democracy?