Warren Buffett-Owned Newspaper Shuts Down

After 143 years in print, the Manassas News & Messenger of Manassas, Virginia has turned off its printing presses for good.

The Manassas News is another in a long chain of failed local newspapers that have ceased publication over the last decade, unable to compete with social media, electronic media, and cable TV delivering news as it happens. The paper stopped publication in November.

The paper was purchased by Warren Buffett’s World Media Enterprises last June, but ultimately the new owner decided that the Manassas News just wasn’t worth continuing.

Along with the cessation of the print edition, the paper also stopped updating its website. All employees lost their jobs.

World Media Enterprises has not announced the closing of any of its other papers, but media watchers expect more to come in 2013.