ALMOST EVERYONE KNOWS that newspapers are in trouble, wounded because they're losing advertising dollars and circulation to the Internet.

In response many, including such icons as The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune , and The Boston Globe have downsized their newsrooms, some drastically.

That's bad news for us all, because newspapers still produce the majority of news. More than 80% of news stories, according to one recent survey, originate in the newsrooms of print media.

However, not all newspapers are withering. Can you guess which ones are actually still doing quite well? Here's a hint: there are a lot of them in Vermont.

If you guessed community weeklies, small and local, you are right. Newspapers like The Herald of Randolph, The Addison Independent, The Barton Chronicle, The Hardwick Gazette, and others are prospering, despite last year's economic downturn and the growth of the Internet.

It seems that small is not only beautiful-it's profitable.

Early in December, 13 of those small and local papers met in Randolph because they wantedand needed-to let their readers and advertisers know that they are alive and kicking. Several noted that 2008-just before the bottom fell out of the U.S. economy - was their best year ever. Dick Drysdale, publisher of The Herald noted that community newspapers may be a bit slimmer, but there are no signs of death. Quite the contrary.

Here's what Angelo Lynn, publisher of the Addison Independent, said:

"We were there yesterday. We're here today. And we'll be here tomorrow."

The trend is nationwide, not just in Vermont. Across the country, small newspapers are weathering the cyber-storm better than their larger brethren.

The reasons are twofold.

One is financial: small newspapers have lost less advertising to the Internet than bigger regional newspapers. They are smaller, less costly operations and, generally speaking, they are carrying less debt.

The other reason is editorial: community newspapers cover community news. They don't just report on their small communities; they help build them. The Internet, for all its technical spiffiness, does neither.

Last winter, Julia Shipley, who teaches writing at Sterling College in Craftsbury, said, at a presentation on Vermont's small newspapers: "These newspapers help me as a human being see what I am a part of."

Journalism is clearly going through a major transitionredefining itself in some key ways. It will be important, as we make this transition, not to lose the vital functions that a vigorous free press provides our democracy-making sure that governments remain accountable and citizens remain informed.

Admittedly, the success of small newspapers does nothing to assuage the major structural problems that are facing journalism, problems that all of us who love newspapers have to be concerned about. On their own, small community newspapers cannot assure that we solve this puzzle. But they do give us a couple of clues about what readers still want.

This commentary was written for Vermont Public Radio by Tom Slayton and was broadcast on Feb. 1. You can find the audio and much more at VPR-dot-net."

Tom Slayton pursued a full career as a reporter with the Rutland Herald and Vermont Press Bureau, then another full career as editor of Vermont Life Magazine. He is now engaged in a third career as author of books and commentaries. This commentary was broadcast on Vermont Public Radio on Feb. 1 and is reprinted with permission of VPR.