As announced by the newspaper on Oct. 8, Philadelphia Inquirer Editor William K. Marimow was removed from his position as the paper’s editor and demoted to the position of investigative reporter. It’s a familiar position for Marimow, who won two Pulitzers as an Inquirer reporter

The reason? According to a statement on Philly.com, Marimow, “despite his national reputation as an outstanding print journalist, he did not have the background in digital media necessary to lead the paper going forward.”

The call to remove Marimow from the position was made by the paper’s new owner, Philadelphia Media Network Inc., who own the Inquirer, The Philadelphia News and Philly.com. What’s important about that list, though, is the last part of the group – the website. The new owner is well aware that, if there is any sort of future for The Inquirer as a whole, the website must have success.

Financial success, though, certainly does not describe what The Inquirer has gone through recently, as the Philadelphia Media Group’s purchase marked the end of the paper’s 20-month bankruptcy, which occurred under Marimow’s watch.

No one is questioning Marimow’s work in print journalism- he holds two Pulitzers for his work in investigating police abuse in Philadelphia. The problem, though, is that Marimow is symbolic of the newspaper leadership that has failed to adapt to the digital age and the Internet. The sort of old, crusty newspaper-folk are heavily criticized for refusing to change their ways – dinosaurs.

I’m not saying that Marimow was a dinosaur, but the new owners of The Inquirer are saying so, and they’re one of the few that have identified the fact that the newspaper industry needs more than good print journalists.

It’s not a knock against folks like Marimow, they specialize in the newspaper industry that they grew up in, where advertising sales were high and newspapers could afford high-cost investigative projects that journalists could build their careers on.

Today, though, newspaper sales are down, classifieds are moving to Craigslist, the Internet offers free news and The Inquirer still has to put the same paper out everyday. More than that, consumers aren’t as willing to sit down and read paper and want their news to come through their laptops and iPhones. They also don’t want to pay for it.

Running a newspaper ain’t easy.

I’m not one to say that I know what it takes to run a newspaper, but having people like Marimow running newspapers isn’t the best choice business-wise. Journalism-wise, Marimow’s the man. But newspaper execs need to be more familiar with the online and multimedia aspects of the media markets than the print aspect.

The best example for this is the nearby Springfield Republican and its online form, Masslive.com., which has become a substantial media identity of its own. While the Republican provides the old-school, newspaper print journalism that the older generation wants, Masslive.com gives uppity, snotty younger news seekers like myself blogs, video and photo in smaller bite sizes. Kids don’t have time to read a whole newspaper – we have stuff to do.

But the decision to make such a significant change at the top of the newspaper ladder shows how big of a change is needed in order to shake the traditional business model of the industry. It’s a great thing to say that papers are sticking to their guns and not succumbing to pressures from things likes the “market” and “what’s going to keep the company profitable.”

Time will tell as to whether or not the new ownership in of The Inquirer made the right call. But as the paper’s bankruptcy, the financial woes of papers like the Boston Globe and the closing of papers like The Rocky Mountain News have shown, there needs to be change in the journalism industry.

Newspapers need to figure out how to make money on the Internet. So do a lot of people. But it’s obvious to see that the model that worked even 15 years ago is no longer an option. Marimow is a great journalist. He just might not be the best choice to lead a newspaper and establish a profitable business model in the 21st century.

In a perfect world, the great, ethical journalists with great leadership skills would be the editor at every paper in the country. But that’s not what The Inquirer needs. The Inquirer needs, as now-former Patriots receiver Randy Moss would say, “straight cash, homey.”

Even if that means posting blog posts about “Jersey Shore” instead of uncovering police abuse. It sounds bad now, but if newspapers refuse to change, there will be none left in a few years.

Nick O’Malley is a Collegian columnist. He can be reached at [email protected].