Cities could be without own news for first time since the Enlightenment, warns Rusbridger

Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger warned today that the crisis engulfing the regional newspaper industry could lead to titles closing and leave cities without their own indigenous news for the first time since the Enlightenment.
Rusbridger, interviewed about the newspaper crisis on this morning's BBC Radio 4's Today programme said he believed the local press was facing the biggest challenge and warned: "We have to face up to the prospect that for the first time since the Enlightenment major cities in the UK and in Western democracies will be left without any kind of verifiable news. That hasn't happend for 200 to 300 years. I think it will have very profound implications."
He also claimed that newspapers with paternalistic owners, like the Barclay brothers, Murdoch or O'Reilly or controlled by a trust, like The Guardian, would be in a better position to weather the storm than those in conventional share ownership which are more exposed to the pressure of the financial markets.