The destiny of newspapers is not totally pessimistic, according to Peter Conti, an SVP at Borrell Associates. Even though bankruptcies, defaults and closures still haunt the industry, Conti said although the industry will experience another decline this year, but in 2010 it will bounce back by 2.4 percent.

By 2014, newspapers will increase 8.7 percent over the '09 figures, to reach a little more than $39 billion, paidContent reported. Although it's still down compared to its peak in 2001, it seems "the worst could be over and a long way from extinction," according to Conti.

Conti's forecast is based on the notion that "because newspapers were the first industry to be negatively impacted by the Internet, it will also be the first medium to adjust," according to a Borrell blog post. In addition, most of the loss of classified and retail revenue goes to larger companies, which will continue to struggle with costs and layoffs. However, smaller players which survive the hard times will stabilise.

Other reasons for the estimate include newspapers improved sales systems, the end of recession and the additional growth of newspaper Web sites, paidContent reported.