Jack Shafer in Slate discusses the 1962-1963 New York newspaper strike, and considers it a case study in what people do when the newspapers shut down. He argues that, despite today’s oft-stated assumption, democracy and government did not appear to suffer too much under the 114-day strike. Instead, people turned to other news sources for information — television, news magazines and books. Meanwhile, the circulation of newspapers not involved in the strike rose dramatically.