The Dow Jones Industrial Average's plunge to 1997 levels is recounted in Tuesday's newspapers with the gloom and alarm it deserves. The Wall Street Journal reports that "markets shudder across the globe." The New York Times said it reflected "fears that the world's economies are even weaker than had been thought."

But it's a measure of how far newspaper stocks have fallen that if they were selling at the prices they sold for in 1997 -- it would represent a miraculous reversal of fortunes.

On Monday, five well-respected newspaper companies traded for pennies a share on the New York Stock Exchange, and four others traded on actual OTC penny stock exchanges, having been exiled from the Big Board and Amex last year.

Gannett Co., the biggest newspaper publisher in America, could not find a buyer willing to pay even $3 a share for its stock. …