Arthur Sulzberger, owner, chairman and publisher of the N.Y. Times, was asked the following question last week at the World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland: “Given the constant erosion of the printed press, do you see the New York Times still being printed in five years?

And Sulzberger replied, “I really don’t know whether we’ll be printing the Times in five years, and you know what? I don’t care either. The internet is a wonderful place to be, and we’re leading there.” Did I just read that? The print version of the Times may cease publishing on or before 2012? Good heavens.

This, in any event is what I’m reading in a story published today in Haaretz.com, written by Eytan Avriel.

Sulzberger says the New York Times is on a journey that will conclude the day the company decides to stop printing the paper. That will mark the end of the transition. It’s a long journey, and there will be bumps on the road, says the man at the driving wheel, but he doesn’t see a black void ahead.”