Ink might run in his veins but Rupert Murdoch has admitted that the newspaper as we know it is dead. As reported here, Murdoch told the Goldman Sachs' annual media conference that electronic reading devices will replace paper.

"I do certainly see the day when more people will be buying their newspapers on portable reading panels than on crushed trees ... "Then we're going to have no paper, no printing plants, no unions. It's going to be great."

Whether he will still be around to see it remains to be seen. Murdoch is now 78.

But his comments are a reminder that newspapers are part of an industry in decline. Google is now moving into magazine-style navigation with its Fast Flip technology .

Meanwhile media specialist Jeffrey Cole has issued a warning that US newspapers have about six years left, Australian newspapers only 10.

The media industry will continue, but it will take new forms. Watch this space.