Covering Academic Books in Newspaper Books Sections?

I came across an interesting post yesterday on Inside Higher Ed about a new approach to book coverage in a newspaper. Apparently The Austin American-Statesman is trying a new niche to get people into reading--covering books from academic presses.

I was really surprised that a mainstream paper would try this when books sections are disappearing or shrinking in newspapers across North America. And their niche is academic books, not the newest genre fiction, which I could see as a more popular sort of thing--genre fiction is mostly what I see people on buses and subways and offices reading. I hope this catches on though, at least in university towns across North America.