Ever since I left publishing and became a marketing and brand communications mercenary, I've watched somberly as the traditional media edifice—print publishing—has steadily eroded in the face of new digital forms of media. Sad as this may be (I personally love the tangible, visceral value of reading a magazine, appreciating the art direction, rich photos and the excitement of discovering what’s on the next page), I’ve had this little theory that I’ve stuck to, basically refusing to believe that print could ever really die.

Here’s my hypothesis: Print magazines and newspapers were the primary form of communication for the much of the last century. TV, radio and word-of-mouth had their place, but they really didn’t compare to the news cycle which could be disseminated inexpensively and ubiquitously through print channels. This led to a bloating of the industry – magazines publishing for any and every niche interest, news-channel and industry to generate ad bucks.

As the Web picked up steam, cheaper and more quickly consumed aspects of news media migrated there. This has been fueled by technical advances in phones, computers, new social structures, speed-of-connection and, more recently, entirely new kinds of digital devices that further enrich and enable our online experience.

But does this mean that print will die? No. Rather, print will go the way of the hand written note and the horse & buggy. We will continue to consume print media that transcends the mundane. Niche publications with target audiences, well-written editorial and beautiful layouts will flourish. News printed in black and white format with marginal photos of events that happened yesterday will die.

The reason I bring this up is because Mediafinder.com just published a report on North American print media. Results show the new print equilibrium in action…  in 1qrtr 2010 22 magazines folded, 25 were born and 7 migrated online. More or less, no gain. (economy is improving, but the new equilibrium is keeping startups low)

But compare it to 2009 as a whole: 428 magazines folded, while just 275 were born. Of those folded, news and business magazines topped the list: BusinessWeek, Small Biz, Conde Nast Portfolio and Fortune Small Business for example. While those that were new fell heavily into leisure categories like health and cooking related.