The recent demise of the Rocky Mountain News in Denver, after a 150 years of publishing was a shock to the old media. Two west coast papers the San Francisco Chronicle and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer are potentially facing the same fate.We know that the new media - the Huffington Post for example - chuckle with glee at such events, bragging that as the new media, they saw this coming and are leading the way to a promised land of citizen journalism with unlimited free information at the click of a mouse.
Let's stop and consider the merits of this claim. Most newspapers today are becoming the 'new media' as they develop their blog capacity, send journalist out to cover stories with video cameras to capture stories and upload them to their newspaper websites. Newspapers across the country are buying radio and TV air time to advertise their websites as the "go to" place for up-to-date i-news.
Newspaper journalists and columnists now write 'new media' blogs, in addition to their 'old media' stories because blogs are seen by their editors as powerful tools to obtain news content, as it is developing, to help them stay ahead of the curve.
Some folks feel the 'old media' provides more accurate information and a degree of accountability to their editors, publishers and shareholders. The 'New 2.0 Media' are accountable to no one but themselves.
This may indicate that consumers are not so much concerned with the medium as they are with the content. If 'old media' can provide current information in the 'new media' format, they may be on the road to survival.
What you get from trained journalists, over amateur bloggers, is assurance of quality and accountability.
Arguments can be made by bloggers about individuals citizens having the resources to generate the quantity and quality of news to which citizens are accustomed. 'Old news' is hard to gather and is expensive. Journalists are empowered to write without fear because their employers defend their right to do so. Bloggers do not have these same protections.
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Actually they are under the same protections as anyone else, if not more so.
For one they have no fear of being 'fired' for posting false information and most corporations won't waste their time to sue an individual posting on a blog (although they may go after the hosing company)
The quality of the writing may not be the same as a professional, but then again you'd have to define what a professional even is in journalism, is getting paid for what you do enough to be considered a pro? Perhaps years of experience?
Sadly what the newspapers need to realize is that the internet community can now get for free what they were charging for, and free will always win even if the quality is less, as it will drive the demand so low that they won't be able to make a profit on their product without charging rates that frankly no one would be willing to pay anyways.
This also has to do with our on the go lifestyles now, most people don't have time to read a hardcopy of anything unless they are stuck on a train or in a waiting room.
The time is coming down the road where even our classrooms will be digitized, which will save the school system millions by the way, and paper copies will be something reserved for signatures (until we get more use of official legal binding digital signatures) and for pamphlets, meeting materials etc.
I realize someone announced the 'paperless society' years ago, frankly it's just taking long then most thought to really get there, I don't think we will ever go truely paperless, but with technologies being build like flexible digital material capable of displaying text and receiving mobile signals along with smart phones and other small devices, the 'digital paper' society may be closer to an accurate description of future society.
I think if newspapers and such really want to capitalize on a technology they should work hard to get something like this out to the general public.