STATE OF NEWS MEDIA REPORT

There is obviously a distinct shift from print to online news media. Previously we have discussed this issue and contemplated the direction that the industry is taking. An interesting article on the Online Journalism Review (http://www.ojr.org/ojr/stories/080317niles/) takes the issue into further depth. It appears that there is not necessarily a problem with those who gather and disseminate the news. The issue of concern surrounds the economic structure or backbone of the industry; advertising. The 'State of News Media' report labels this "the decoupling of advertising and news".
Advertisers need to find a happy medium in their search for maximizing their investment. What the internet and online media has presented is an array of options for their advertising dollar. Results are harder to quantify. No longer can advertisers rely solely on identifying a linear process of 'investment-return' that was possible when print media existed in the absence of the internet. Right now it seems that there is a little uncertainty and the increased in options for production has resulted in more competition and brought about the constant restructuring of both the news content and the industry. The State of News Media report states that eight in every ten Americans now value the internet as a valuable source of information. This is increasing with every year. Never before has print media, a median where advertising has resided comfortably, encountered a competing phenomenon such as the internet. But no matter what medium is used, readership results in revenue, and as the internet slowly takes over the mantle as the chief source of information, hopefully the economic structure will become clearer.