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So many columns to write, so little time.

In August, E.W. Scripps Co. announced it would sell The Tribune or shut it down. Last week, executives from DW Turner, the public relations firm, said they're near a purchase of the newspaper. What might follow?

Any new owner would have a big nut to cover - the cost of printing and distribution, as well as staff. Ad revenues from businesses targeting 10,000 mostly boomer and older readers might not suffice. For, though God surely created opposable thumbs so that we might hold newspapers, young people prefer punching remotes, keyboards and jazzy phones.

A less capital-intensive Web version of The Trib might supplant the physical newspaper.

Some loyal Tribune readers have organized as Friends of the Albuquerque Tribune to explore publishing a nonprofit, cooperative paper. That's intriguing, but it won't happen tomorrow. Reach Ted Cloak (tcloak@unm.edu or 243-5069) for details.

If The Tribune goes away, the Albuquerque Journal will be more dominant than ever in Albuquerque and environs. The Journal could mitigate the loss of diversity - and serve its own interests - by rethinking itself. After all, like daily newspapers all over the country, the morning paper needs readers.

The Journal can build on often-overlooked virtues, including frequent (and costly) investigations of government; coverage of entertainment, arts and books, plus useful features like the "Road Warrior" - and "Roll Call," which tracks congressional voting.

But I'll miss The Tribune if it goes away, because it offers aggressive, broad-minded editing, which tells me editors assume I know a little and aspire to understand more.

The Journal, too, can treat its readers as adults, with life experience, if not Ph.D.s, and a reading habit. No point in targeting the under-30s - their thumbs are idle, remember?

Respect means dropping the pretense to objectivity and giving reporters room to convey what the story means. Fairness, too, of course, in reporting and editing.

Newspapers, elbowed out of the breaking news business, are great at background and perspective. Do it. Exalt the "why." Make space by spiking dull, official stories.

Life is so complex. Hire more specialists, please, not generalists. Try new beats, like media. Why no ombudsman? Question newspapering as it's always been done.

Having watched so many institutions - government, business, church, school - fail and lie, we readers have grown skeptical. Give us reason not to doubt your newspaper.

I'm out of words. I'm hoping's The Tribune's voice soars in 2008, I wish you a Happy New Year.