As several of my columns illustrate, I spend a lot of time traveling.

Ever wonder how decisions are made within a newspaper?

Airports are strange places.

And I’m not talking about the sea of humanity that passes from gate to gate on the way to see loved ones, visit exotic vacation locales or travel for work.

No, I’m talking about the built-in audience the media has. It’s a captive one, and anyone who has ever sat in an airport waiting on a delayed flight knows exactly what I’m talking about.

One thing's for certain.

Newspapers are a way of life for their communities.

That seems to be a common theme as I travel around the country going from newspaper to newspaper. The pundits say print media is dead. Well, before the naysayers put the final -30- on newspapers, perhaps they should visit small town America and see what newspapers mean there.

One thing newspaper people around the country LOVE to do is complain.

We complain about everything. Every day. Just like the product we produce, you can count on newsies complaining.

Too much work. Impossible deadlines. Sales reps. Ad builders. Editors. Management. Readers. Lousy press work.

I've been in lots, and I mean lots, of newspapers.

Gannett properties. McClatchy. Lee. Dow Jones. Been in them all over the country.

Love ‘em. They’re all special and unique in their own way.

One of the things I notice, more now than before, are managers. You know, the folks with the offices?

And the thing I notice about them, by and large, is that they don't leave their offices very much.

Ah, the dawn of a new year.

When I was in college, the new year was a time of nut up, or shut up. The holiday season on the desk behind us (and who in newspaper land hasn’t worked a holiday eve with “speed up” deadlines??) and it was time to get back to the serious work of newspapering.

I used to wonder why January brought so many sour faces around the newspapers I have worked at. Why, it was the beginning of a new year – new stories, new chances and of course, the same old, same old routine of putting out a paper and facing the blustery winter weather.

It was only after I entered the business side of newspapers did I understand the dire looks on various faces.

Yep, that’s right – the dreaded first quarter.

One of the more interesting things about working in the media is the opinion one gets of the media. And the companies that run them.

To be sure, every one working for a media company has an opinion about the company for whom they work. Hell, everyone in every industry has similar thinking.

I’m quite sure staffers at The New York Times are seething in anger over the paper’s layoffs last month of many seasoned, well-regarded bylines. The same anger Gannett properties have endured for more than a year; McClatchy about the same and Scripps with four rounds in 18 months.

To be sure, it’s a tough time to be in the media.

But, let’s look at the other side for a minute.

What is it about the end of the year?

This season is supposed to be filled with happiness, and joy. Tidings of great joy, the story goes. But for some reason, not this year. Nooooo, 2009’s holiday season brings news of sadness and despair for more than a few people.

During the past few weeks, several sad things have happened in the newspaper media space.

From the announcement of Editor & Publisher’s demise to the closing of yet another Gannett-owned newspaper printing plant, this has turned into something straight out of a Dickens novel.