Annual Report On State Of Media Asks 'Will Future Leaders Of Journalism Please, Stand Up?'

The Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism released its annual report on the state of media. The results, as might be expected, were fairly dour, though one outlet offered a shining beacon of hope. Newspaper ad revenue has fallen 23 percent in the last two years and, according to report findings, nearly one out of every five journalists working for newspapers in 2001 have left the industry. Local television news revenue fell by 7 percent, something unheard of in an election year. Further news staffs, which were already too small to adequately cover their communities, are being cut at unprecedented rates. So where is the bright side for the industry? Believe it or not, it's not the internet. In 2008 cable news actually excelled, with its laser like focus on the presidential election. CNN, Fox News and MSNBC all gained viewers and were projected to see record profits. CNN even launched their own wire service to compete with long time wire standard the Associated Press. While stations did see some decline immediately after November, in early 2009, audiences were up once more, suggesting the channels might retain some of the viewership gained during the election. While news outlets have been losing traction for years, the rapid decline in 2008 has been hastened by two major factors: The internet and the recession. For years news organizations have seen the migration of its audience from print and live television to the internet. Now, though, with the collapsing economy, revenue loss for traditional news outlets has nearly doubled. Even when companies were more liquid, they did little to adapt to new online trends. Now, coupled with declines in revenue, companies are too strapped to start building web initiatives that will generate new revenue streams. While the current state of media is sad, no one can say that warning signs have not been flashing for years. The question now is, do news executives have the ingenuity and temerity to reinvent the business? The Pew report does not offer a hopeful picture. Reinvention does not usually come from managers prudently charting course. It tends to come from risk takers trying the unreasonable, seeing what others cannot, imagining what is not there and creating it. We did not see much of it when times were better. Times are harder now. Industry leaders, such as Tina Brown and Louis Borders, are attempting to branch out on their own and form internet sites that will fill the void left by the failure of large media conglomerates. Right now, tough, the sites are still small and aren't entirely making up for the loss in news outlets. So what is the answer to the news crisis? If people in the trenches have ideas, we'd like to hear from you!

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Annual Report On State Of Media Asks 'Will Future Leaders Of Journalism Please, Stand Up?'

Becki Heller

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Becki Heller