Paper Chase
Newspapers, showing declining readership for decades, have figured out how to stop that from happening. Don't attract them in the first place.
The problem with most newspaper websites is poor design: several hundred links, not intuitively organized, and a cluttered eyespace. Look at the New York Times' lefthand nav bar: News, Opinions, Features, Services (are Movies a Feature or News?; Arts a Feature, but Sports is News -- how am I the reader supposed to know this?). Along with the occassional ad or two tossed in.
Compare that with Instapundit or Romenesko. Still too much killspace along the sides (the items that hang around foreverand that the viewer never sees, because the site has trained them that time spent won't be fruitful) but the main information is presented the way web readers actually use it.
So long as newspapers remain online versions of their paper manifestation, these disappointing readership trends will continue.
