Now this is a fascinating look at the birth of old-media doom: a 1981 report by a San Francisco TV station about people getting newspapers over their home computer!

It runs about 2 minutes. At 50 seconds in, you’ll see that among the first 8 newspapers available over CompuServe was the “Star and Tribune.” So, far from being behind the curve on electronic media, here’s proof that our own Strib was actually one of the very earliest adopters.

Unfortunately, their 1981 efforts aren’t helping them in 2009.

P.S. The reporter notes that about 500 of the 2,000 home computer owners in the Bay area have signed up for the service. The Bay area’s population in 1981: about 3.6 million.