When More Means Less

The Project for Excellence in Journalism is out with its third annual report on "The State of the News Media" and, not surprisingly provides the industry with plenty to chew on. We're still digesting it an will have more on it later but most of the coverage of the report thus far focuses on this finding:

The new paradox of journalism is more outlets covering fewer stories. As the number of places delivering news proliferates, the audience for each tends to shrink and the number of journalists in each organization is reduced. At the national level, those organizations still have to cover the big events. Thus we tend to see more accounts of the same handful of stories each day. And when big stories break, they are often covered in a similar fashion by general-assignment reporters working with a limited list of sources and a tight time-frame.

For two years, we have tracked in this report the major trends in the American news media (See Previous Reports). What is occurring, we have concluded, is not the end of journalism that some have predicted. But we do see a seismic transformation in what and how people learn about the world around them. Power is moving away from journalists as gatekeepers over what the public knows. Citizens are assuming a more active role as assemblers, editors and even creators of their own news. Audiences are moving from old media such as television or newsprint to new media online. Journalists need to redefine their role and identify which of their core values they want to fight to preserve —something they have only begun to consider.

In the first two years of this report, we sensed the news media in America trapped by the twin phenomena of changing technology and economic success. The former created the need for the news media to change fundamentally. The latter bred conservatism and aversion to risk. The role of the press was changing, yet the companies that controlled the media, insulated by high profits, seemed neither to fully understand nor ready act boldly. The problems on the horizon seemed to lead to marginal tinkering, not long-term strategizing.

Heading into 2006, we see a change. The problems of the news media have worsened, and with that we get a stronger sense than in earlier years that the news industry is beginning to move into the next era—especially to the Internet.