Who Pays for the News? - Panel 2

American journalism has entered a phase of what the economist Joseph Schumpeter called creative destruction. Gone are the fat profit margins that once underwrote investigative teams and deep, experienced teams of reporters to monitor and hold accountable both government and private power. New and exciting forms of journalism are sprouting, but new business models have yet to evolve to replace the old ones that are crumbling.

And while the demise of any one media outlet is a problem mainly for its owners and audience, the broad decline of independent, investigative journalism is a serious threat to U.S. politics and public interest. If the market won't underwrite good journalism, are there other models that will?

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Media
• Print
• Web
• Internet
• Nonprofit
• For-profit
• Future

[Stormwern]

The second speaker doesn't get it at all. You can't sell newspapers online because noone's interested in a package deal. Since you don't read papers from start to finish anymore, it's much more attractive to just pay for the section you're interested in.

Also, don't underestimate independent media, so far they are much better at online news than you are.