New York Times media columnist David Carr says that the recent effort by Rupert Murdoch's 21st Century Fox to acquire media conglomerate Time Warner Inc. was an indictment of the value and future of print media. In his most recent column, Carr notes that while Murdoch's media empire was built largely as a result of the print newspapers in his portfolio, and that Time Warner is known for Time Magazine, "neither owns print assets anymore."

This is no accident, according to Carr:

In fact, 21st Century Fox is in a position to make a deal and Time Warner is an attractive target partly because they both got rid of slow-growth print divisions. To the extent that the proposal offered a crystal ball on the future of media, print doesn’t seem as if it will be much a part of it.

Ultimately, Carr concludes that "print has lost value in business realms because it has, in fundamental ways, lost traction with you and me."

Fittingly, Carr's column appeared on the Times' website Sunday, and appeared in the print edition of the paper the following day.