Bad news for anyone who keeps close tabs on newspapers and books -- The Nielsen Co. said today that is shutting down Editor & Publisher and Kirkus Reviews, publications that have been around for decades. E&P has chronicled issues in newspapers for 108 years; Kirkus was started in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus, once the head of the children's book department of Harper & Bros.

Thursday's closure of Editor & Publisher "was a shock," editor Greg Mitchell told the AP. "We knew that something big was happening but we didn't think the aftermath was that ... it would be folded." E&P switched from a weekly to a monthly format in 2003 and heightened its focus on the Web. Kirkus has been a stalwart for producing, as it says, "critical, descriptive, and concise (approx. 320-word) reviews" in many genres. The two publications have 18 employees combined.

With the newspaper industry being rocked for years, it's no surprise that E&P, as its know in the business, would succumb. Its subscriber base and classified ads have been whittled away, much like the companies it covers. Kirkus' industry is also experiencing seismic shifts, as book reviewing has shifted from print to bloggers, and publishers look for new ways to engage readers directly. Still, it's sad to see them go.