Over the past decade, journalists and newsrooms have seen a dramatic shift in both the industry and the consumer. Instead of a passive dependence on newspapers and television to report news, the modern consumer can now actively search out the stories and news they want to learn about. Web users can easily choose from a wide array of traditional media choices, or explore newer more specific web blogs and pay sites. As The Economist writes, “The main victim of this trend is not so much the newspaper as the conventional news package a mixture of local, national, international, business and sports news. This package works rather like an old-fashioned department store, and the fate of the news package is similar to that of the department store. Some customers have been lured away by discount chains; others have been drawn to boutiques.”
The fact of the matter is that while traditional sources have declined slightly in the share of news viewership, for the most part newspapers and television are still relevant and valued sources. In the past a number of sites, most notably The New York Times have attempted to erect pay walls, but the only sites that have succeeded are those like The Financial Times, a “boutique” news source. It is entirely possible that the online “department stores” of news will never be as profitable as their paper and television counterparts, but that doesn’t mean that they should simply be abandoned. In 2009 the FTC presented a draft of policy recommendations to support journalism which contained the following proposals: changing copyright law to allow for more protection of journalistic work; modifying antitrust law to allow for easier collaboration amongst different media companies; using subsidies, tax breaks and other economic incentives to decrease costs; or employing new technology to reduce costs while increasing journalists’ output and value.
While many of these solutions would help to temporarily maintain older models of journalism that are now failing, the fact is that no amount of tax breaks or copyright protection will help a business if nobody wishes to buy their product, or in this case read their news. In order to remain solvent, newspapers and news companies must find a way to incorporate the egalitarianism and instant access demanded by their readers into their online news sites. In a situation reminiscent of natural selection, the news companies that survive will not be those that were the strongest, the fastest or the smartest. They will be the companies that can adapt and change to fully embrace the power and openness of the internet.