News Now, News Next

Amanda Adams

Newspaper print circulation is down. Newspaper website readership is up. News delivery platforms are rapidly diversifying. We have seen the introduction of mobile platforms, smart phones and tablets, and digital distribution channels: Internet, Wi-Fi, and cell-phone circuits, carrying news and information via websites, mobile apps, and the introduction of social media: Twitter and Facebook. Digital news outlets are proliferating, utilizing for-profit commercial models, non-profit foundation-funded and donation-funded models. At the same time, this expanding news delivery network is fractionalizing readerships and audience. As news services have evolved, how has the public's commitment to news and information changed? Has the audience's appetite for news consumption increased proportionately, or are more news enterprises chasing a fixed allotment of news consumption time, sharply limiting the circulation and ratings any single media can capture? Are newspapers bound to disappear as more electronic media proliferate? Is their advertiser-financed business model extinct? Can new digital delivery-only news media produce quality news? Can advertising-supported digital news delivery models finance quality news gathering? How are newspapers adapting? Can traditional, one-deadline-a-day culture metamorphosize and become a 24/7 news delivery culture? How is social media affecting this news mix of news sources?