Today, RCR Wireless, one of the most well respected mobile and wireless publications in the industry announced it would cease publication of its print and online entities after 25 years.

RCR Wireless is one of several publications who have recently made the decision to close down due to the current economic climate. A few weeks ago, the Rocky Mountain News shut its doors after 150 years, and other major national dailies such as the San Francisco Chronicle and Seattle Post-Intelligencer are up for sale as publishers look for new ways to survive the economic downturn.

It’s no secret that this shift in the media landscape has been a long time coming. For decades, the magazine and newspaper industries have struggled to maintain and increase advertising revenue to support circulation costs. In addition, disruptive technologies such the Internet and social networking as viable forms of communications have forced traditional media outlets to look at other business models to retain readership.

According to a Dec. 2008 survey by the Pew Research Center for People and the Press, more U.S. consumers get their news online than from newspapers. The survey reveals that 40 percent of consumers rely on the Internet for news, surpassing newspapers as the main news source for the first time since Pew started administering the survey in 2001. In addition, the rising popularity of social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook is giving way to the next generation of the citizen journalist with people leveraging these mediums to report and comment on events and news in their neighborhoods, cities and areas that matter most to them.

So what is the future of news? That seems to be the million dollar question and one our industry is watching closely. As traditional and new media continue to converge and social networking increases, I believe we will see traditional media outlets offering their content in new ways. We’re already starting to see this with online content, podcasts and journalist blogs. I think we’ll also see these outlets use micro-blogging sites and mobile social networking more in the near future. No matter what happens it will be interesting to see what happens.

As a PR professional who has worked with editors at RCR Wireless such as Colin Gibbs and Dan Meyer for many years, we are sad to see the publication go and wish everyone there the best of luck. Their industry insight and perspective will be missed.