We can blame them for much but not this. I don't even blame Google for this. The newspaper initially giving away their content for free is the "problem". Now it's to late to change people's habits.
What they should have done is only making the web site accessible for subscribers or people with a day-pass from buying a paper. The transition from paper to digital would then be more or less seamless for the consumer as they would have both for a while.
Making people realize they don't need the news papers was their mistake.