The Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism publishes an annual report on the direction of American journalism called “The State of the News Media.”
It didn’t have a very positive appraisal for any form of American journalism from 2008 and predicted an abysmal 2009.
While the report noted the rapid increase in Web-based news — second only to television as a news destination — it presented a troubling outlook for the entire structure.
Newspaper advertising revenue fell 23 percent between 2006 and 2008 and hasn’t shown any signs of recovery this year as circulation figures continue to fall at close to 5 percent per year. Newspaper staffs are shrinking and the traditional-style of news production doesn’t seem viable.
The nation’s local television stations revenues fell by 7 percent over the last year. This number is particularly troubling considering 2008 was an election year — a traditionally prosperous time for local news.
The only sections of the media that showed significant growth were the Internet and cable news. And while Internet news showed a 19-percent expansion during the last year, the amount of advertising revenue it brought in decreased.
What it adds up to is an American populous that wants news more than ever and a journalistic system that isn’t set up to provide it.
A decade ago, when the print newspaper giants and local television stations were bought up into conglomerates like Samuel Zell’s Tribune Company and Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation, the focus shifted toward shareholders and away from innovation. Newspaper staffs were severely cut to make a buck here and there while the Internet bounded past the industry.
The Internet is beginning to dominate the market and the old regime still hasn’t caught up. None of the models it has tried have worked: pay walls aren’t the solution because too many services such as Google News aggregate information free of cost; traditional advertisements don’t pay as well on the Internet; and micropayments, essentially pay-as-you-go for news, haven’t proved successful.
Newspapers and local television media should have embraced the Web a decade ago and are behind the curve — still, there is hope. Some Web sites such as WRAL.com have been successful in gaining public interest and ushering in a new way of presenting the news, as shown by its recent Edward R. Murrow award for Web excellence.
The public still craves traditional forms of journalism and information gathering, including in-depth pieces, but is unwilling to pay for them in their existing form. As a result, many traditional daily newspapers have already shut their doors this year.
The only clear solution is to embrace the Web and press onward. Traditional outlets such as local news stations and newspapers must put aside past failures and place an emphasis on developing Web-based models that present news in a way consumers seek it while preserving their reporters.