Once upon a time not long ago, the front page of a newspaper was sacrosanct.

Ads would not be run there. Not even be considered.

Yesterday, came news that The Wall Street Journal plans to sell ads on page one. That followed word that The New York Times had announced plans to shrink the width of its newspaper. And today, we hear that the Chicago Tribune is considering ads on more of the front pages of its sections.

Desperation is in the air.

While the news that these organizations gather is clearly of enormous value and extremely high quality, the medium -- ink on newsprint -- is gasping for air.

Newspapers are looking in all directions for ways to stay relevant, and their best chance is online distribution.

Both the Times and Journal have robust online editions and quite clearly are pouring resources into this effort. Not all newspapers, however, have the scale to make a big splash online. These organizations may well be doomed to obsolescence.

Communicators should be aware of all this. Newspaper reporters increasingly will be interested in timely news stories that break ground -- and will be happy to break them online. This already has altered the news cycle and suggests new approaches to media relations. Online reporting requires a different approach, one that involves more multimedia and more up-to-the-minute news.

We need to be able to deliver.