Yet the economic shutdown created by the spread of covid-19 promises to decimate advertising revenue, which could doom more digital news outlets and local newspapers.

It already has. Here in Australia, "News Corp is making 60 suburban and regional titles across NSW, Victoria, Queensland and South Australia digital-only from next week." News Corp is the largest provider of print news in Australia: it has more titles and more readers than its competitors. Once these publications move online, they'll attract less readers, which means even less incentive for advertisers to pay for advertising, which will begin a death spiral for local journalism across the country.

This isn't the future. This is now.