Bill Keller, executive editor of the New York Times on NPR recently said this: "Good journalism does not come cheap." His point -- not too many websites will open up bureaus around the world and cover news effectively.
Gapper concludes with this:
"The question for national and international reporting is not whether city papers survive but whether news organizations such as The New York Times do. Clearly, if they did not, and blogs were left alone to provide coverage of Washington and Iraq, there would be a problem.
"My working assumption, in more ways than one, is that consolidation -- or, more accurately, eradication -- of local newspapers will strengthen the editorial position of the remaining elite: The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, The Financial Times, etc. I also assume the elite will find some way to cover its costs. Here's hoping, anyway."
A few thoughts. The Internet has shown that there are too many news organizations. Breaking news is mostly consumed on the Web, or perhaps TV or radio. Feature stories are often found in blogs, magazines, other media forms. But we do know this: A robust and diverse media is absolutely essential.
What model will be profitable? Will I continue to get my copy of the FT or local newspaper in the mornings? Will we have trusted news sources covering important global and local events? How will news organization turn a profit -- news organizations are, after all, for-profit organizations. Should they be? I'm not an advocate of government funded media. We've seen the disaster that is in China, Russia (where killing journalists has become sport), and so on.
Well, lots of questions, no answers, and a lot of hoping.
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