The case that the digital age has ushered in a fundamental shift in social structures and communication, indeed much of human experience, has by now been well made.1 A key component of that shift is also clear – the ability for the Internet to allow the public to act both as senders and receivers, to use the old Shannon-Weaver communication model terminology, with feedback loops that are thereby brought to another order of complexity. If the sender-receiver dichotomy no longer applies as it once might have, then senders – media entities such as printed newspapers for one – are destined to have to rethink their structures and experiences in a radical way.

It seems clear that this rethinking has recently shifted into high gear. Anecdotal evidence is presented below that points to what I called a watershed. As this was being written, Tom Curley, president and CEO of the Associated Press, delivered a speech in which he said that the news industry has come to a fork in the road.2 Curley had a sense of urgency. He claimed that the news industry has to accept that readers want control over what they get, that too much energy has been wasted trying to extend the old models, that advertising is changing from mass to targeted, that content models need to change (“Think of it as a mix from news radio to The New Yorker all under one roof with the New York Public Library thrown in”), and that distribution needs to support linking and viral sharing of content.

The Committee of Concerned Journalists was formed by Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel in large part to study and promote means by which the institution of journalism can continue on in the face of challenges brought on by the fundamental shifts of the digital age. An October, 2007 Hurley Symposium at the partnering Missouri School of Journalism asked: “Can Journalistic Principles Survive and Thrive in A Digital Environment?”3 Chief among those principles, derived from earlier writings of Kovach and Rosenstiel,4 were verification, creating a forum for public “compromise and criticism,” and making important news interesting, something that speaks directly to the role of digital media artists.5 These suggest by implication that traditional journalism is concerned that the digital flavors are weak in verification, that they tend to bury or trivialize what should be seen as important, and perhaps that the forum it does provide runs the risk of being taken over by the shrill and poorly informed because traditional journalism institutions no longer fully control the process of entry into the profession.

The discussion is, of course, ongoing among all forms and aspects of the journalistic endeavor. The same sense of threshold is evident in MediaBistro’s panel discussion, “The future of photojournalism in a digital world,”6 held in August of 2007, a panel that noted a blurring of the still vs. video distinction, the idea that essentially all photojournalists are now digital people, and the fact that almost anyone can produce video for the Web, which in turn raises issues about the truth and believability of digital photojournalism content.

Clearly this has been building for a while. It’s been three years since Philip Meyer published The Vanishing Newspaper: Saving Journalism in the Information Age.7 Meyer makes a strong empirical case for the “influence model,” which suggests that newspapers (and by extension, other traditional forms of journalism) can survive, indeed prosper, if they leverage their influence or standing in the community to enhance their commercial influence. Indeed there is already a sort of reified sense of what Mersey calls “a virtuous cycle linking newspaper readership to a sense of community for the benefit of social capital,” although her research suggest that this link is weaker for the on line product.8

Has a watershed really been reached?

This paper attempts to provide a summary of current issues related to the tension between print and on line journalism. It argues that there seems to be a watershed on the horizon in the move from print to Web. In the past 12 months or so, job postings on key journalism and editing listservs (e.g. JOURNET, J-JOBS) and Yahoo! groups (e.g. ACESjobs) to which I subscribe have asked print applicants to have Web and multimedia skills as well. On the academic side, several schools such as Old Dominion University are advertising for positions such as Assistant Professor of Digital Journalism, requiring a similar set of skills and abilities. Beyond the notion of “convergence,” which traditionally has referred to merging print and TV operations, the academy is in the process of radically re-thinking traditional boundaries in researching and teaching from among disciplines such as communication, journalism, broadcasting, film, digital arts and design, database management and programming/scripting – indeed, a list that reflects concerns of conferences such as this one and associations such as iDMAa.

Rather than asking what are the problems that confront journalism, Neil Postman suggests that a better question is: What are the problems to which journalism is the solution?9 He suggests that while early journalism arose to solve problems of information scarcity, the “problem” for journalism now is more clearly one of information overload. If that is, indeed, the case and represents some sort of new paradigm for information presentation, then there is a significant set of new questions that must be answered in order to make some sense of the trajectory involved. This paper lays out some of these for consideration, loosely organized from the broad to the specific.

At the broadest level, this new paradigm, if indeed it is such, re-raises questions about the very nature and notion of “journalism” and “journalists.” Journalist Judy Woodruff, for one, asked “Are Journalists Obsolete?” in her 2007 Red Smith Lecture in Journalism at Notre Dame University.10 Not surprisingly, she believes that they are not. She sees blogging as largely uncontrolled, and lauds large-scale efforts such as the Washington Post’s expose of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center. The press, Woodruff argues, is still positioned to provide a “vital public service”11 and to satisfy a growing demand for “good content.”12

In the face of a blogosphere arguably in need of a set of standards, Philip Meyer, among others, suggests ways in which journalism needs to reinvestigate and strengthen its stance on professional and ethical standards. However, Meyer cautions that

The chief threat to newspapers in the twenty-first century will come from entrepreneurs who figure out how to use the more favorable cost structure of Internet-based media to provide better services to the same kinds of communities that newspapers have served so well.13

That sort of efficient service provision is becoming evident, for one, in classified and personalized advertising, long a key revenue source for print. Woodruff concedes that in response to such entrepreneurs, the business model for print/on line hybrid operations is still elusive.14 It remains to be seen whether these entrepreneurs can find a way to provide and develop community structure and influence in the way that Meyer and Auman15 feel has traditionally been a strength of print journalism. Cost – and profit – trimming are still likely to be required of traditional print outlets in the face of the new “rough beasts,” as Meyer calls them.16

What “is” journalism, or the culture of journalism?

Auman’s case study of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin’s resurrection provides evidence for the importance of influence, in the community sense. Auman’s ethnographic study of the paper revealed two themes: resistance to external pressure on, or control of the paper, and a strong identity as the “local” paper.17 Mersey also found a connection between newspaper readership and a sense of community, but with a suggestion that this has not yet transferred fully to on line readership.18

Attempts such as these at identifying essential dimensions of journalism as a practice and institution bring into play the larger issue of whether a professional “journalism culture” can be “operationalized” in any agreed-upon way. This is precisely the task that Hanitzsch sets himself.19 Hanitzsch locates seven identifiable dimensions of journalism culture that he says have persistence and global relevance: Interventionism, Power Distance, Market Orientation, Objectivism, Empiricism, Relativism, and Idealism. He concedes that his constructs were not intended to include citizen journalism, although he is able to locate public/civic journalism along these seven dimensions. Nevertheless, Hanitszch’s scheme suggests that “journalism” has (or is) a culture with identifiable institutional roles, epistemologies, and ethical orientations. Together these suggest that journalists have a group identity and that there is a “collective conscience for the profession.”20

Demonstrating and defining that collective conscience is, in effect, what the Committee of Concerned Journalists (CCJ) sees as its guiding force. The committee carried out years of research and public forums to arrive at a list of nine Principles of Journalism, three of which (verification, a forum for compromise and criticism, and making important news interesting) were mentioned above as the focus of the 2007 Hurley Symposium at the Missouri School of Journalism. The others are: an obligation to the truth, loyalty to citizens, maintaining an independence from those being covered, serving as an independent monitor of power, keeping news comprehensive and proportional, and allowing practitioners to exercise their conscience.21 Other groups such as journalism.org have adopted CCJ’s principles, so it is arguable that these principles are the ones around which definitional issues (i.e., “what is journalism in the digital era?”) revolve for the near future as the relationship between print and Web evolves.

What are the possible trajectories for traditional and new (“citizen”) journalism?

Indeed, Woodruff’s stance, and Hanitzsch’s constructs are among many indicators that journalism itself perhaps is not changing all that much. Beam, following McChesney and others, asks whether on line news will continue the status quo as mainstream media’s influence just shifts forms, given its substantial base of resources, credibility, and audiences. But he also asks whether there are significant new directions in the process of gatekeeping, something that bloggers might already claim is well underway.22

Gatekeeping, in the sense of deciding what’s worthwhile based on a grounded and articulated set of filters, has been a thread in journalism research since Kurt Lewin’s formulation was applied by David Manning White in a “classic” 1950 study on the process one wire editor used in deciding what to print and how to prioritize content.23 If it is agreed that an information glut is upon us (although that claim too often goes unchallenged), then journalism still should be poised to provide the service that sorts through and selects from the glut, no matter the format in which content is ultimately delivered. However, there is no doubt that to some significant degree, “Internet technologies are shifting gatekeeping and [what Axel Bruns calls] gatewatching powers directly to users.”24

The question here is whether traditional journalism has enough critical mass, in the form both of economic power and cultural influence, to control the new channels, and whether bottom-up citizen journalism will be able to develop its own economic and cultural influence to survive as an alternative form. Quite likely, both will endure, as well as hybrid forms such as the Washington Post-led LoudounExtra.com,25 which Webb sees as the current model of what can be done by “non-mainstream media hyperlocal sites.”26 The “rub” for Webb is that just these sorts of sites are being produced by non-mainstream citizen groups in increasing numbers and quality. She cites iBrattleboro, Chi-Town Daily News and Philly Future as ones to watch.27

Meyer’s influence model assumes a sort of “Habermasian public sphere”28 in which the institution of journalism resides. One concern about the potential viability of the blogosphere and other alternative citizen channels is that by tending toward fragmentation of the audience, they essentially remove themselves from that public sphere, or at least confine themselves to a sphere that has little or no impact on democratic processes. The same could be expected of mainstream journalism outlets on the Web if they attempt to capture the same sorts of niche audiences. Tewksbury combined Nielsen/NetRatings data and content analysis to show both that on line news users tend toward specialization in what they seek, and that outlets are tending to match that in what they provide.29 Much of this seems driven by what the users seek, rather than selectivity or prominence afforded by the on line sites (for example, half of all viewers on the Chicago Sun-Times site went there to read Roger Ebert’s movie reviews), but there is every reason to expect on line journalism to recognize and encourage that audience specialization.

What are some of the specific issues, technologies, and strategies driving recent practices in the move to on line journalism?

If indeed there has been a sea change in journalism, the larger conceptual and strategic issues should begin to sort themselves out over the next few years. For the moment, then, it makes sense to micro-examine the print versus on line boundary, which itself is blurring. How will the nature of the technology influence the direction? Obvious questions center on the role of interactive content, of digital archives, of immediate/breaking versus more analytic or reflect content, of synergies between on line and paper (and broadcast) arms of the same media company, and where the money is, of design and usability on line, and what kind of pedagogy and research can make sense of, and best mold the new mix of on line and print. The emphasis here is on the arc of traditional newspaper companies, but the distinct path for magazines is worth noting as a side issue, for now.

In addition to the indicators mentioned, there is hard economic data showing that print newspapers are in trouble, and that short-term cost-cutting cannot continue to keep them profitable.30 The on line versions are also in some trouble because other entrepreneurs invested in capturing advertising in the early days of the Internet, while papers were slow to do so.

While Morton indicates that both print and on line newspaper industries are trending negatively, the Bivings Group put the issue another way in its report: “American Newspapers and the Internet: Threat or Opportunity?,”31 which asserts that “the Internet presents newspapers with a unique opportunity to make up for lost circulation and readership.”, as Teeling summarizes it.32 Much of that opportunity is seen in the use of video, RSS feeds, reporter blogs, and reader comments added to articles.

Similarly, Tremayne, Weiss, and Alves found a sharp rise in multimedia and interactive content in on line papers, particularly video, and particularly in coverage of weather, sports, crime and accidents.33 It is logical to assume that the public will continue to turn to on line news outlets for breaking news, leaving the print versions perhaps to develop more in-depth analytic pieces. Mensing and Greer found that on line papers tended to lead with crime or accident (or international) stories at the same time as print versions were leading with governmental and election news.34

There is other support for the position that on line outlets provide an opportunity to increase the role of the media in society, to allow for better and more engaged storytelling,35 and a consequent stabilization of the corporate engines that will continue to run the important outlets for the foreseeable future. American Public Radio, for one, has launched a successful on line tag-based forum called the Idea Generator: Preserving the American Dream.36

Such a primarily on line future might mean that more print papers will be given away for free, and often not delivered to homes. For the moment, there is evidence of synergies between print and on line outlets of the same company. There is evidence of a growing on line newspaper readership overall at about a 15 percent increase from 2005 to 2006,37 and of crossover readers who use both print and Web.38 “Reverse publishing” from on line to print is being pioneered by organizations such as Village Soup39 in Maine. One survey of young adults’ expectations actually predicted more would seek their news from traditional media sources including newspapers, as opposed to social-networking sites in five years.40 However, other data predict strong declines in print readership, especially for magazines – trend data need to be better aggregated. Magazines were generally found by the Bivings Group to be slower to adapt to Web 2.0 sorts of interactive technologies.41 Similarly The Economist held that the American and European magazine industries have been slow to get onto the Internet.42

The blogosphere, not surprisingly, is at the center of this issue. Howard Owens argues that “The next three years could be critical for the on line news game.”43 His questions concerning this period center on whether on line newspapers will be able to arrive upon a suitable set of sources of advertising revenue. Lucas Grindley calls for a cut in print sections and pages and an increase in on line-only content.44 Some of the discussion was fomented by the Bivings Report mentioned above. 45 Robin Miller suggests key components for on line newspapers that parallel items in the Bivings Report.46 Her suggestions include comprehensive calendars, video reports, stringers (as opposed to volunteer or “citizen” journalists), RSS, and premium ads that tie to things such as calendars or events listings. Valleywag.com47 points out that The New York Times posted its first video to the editor48 in September, 2007, although this raises the issue of access to such a channel by those without deep technical and journalistic skills (the 10-minute video was produced by filmmaker Charles Ferguson).

Research to assess means of “improving user experience through design and layout of newspaper websites” is also at the forefront of the issue.49 Bloggers such as Will Sullivan, at Journerdism.org and The Bivings Group present arguments for the particulars of effective design and navigation of on line papers.50 Sullivan noticed that newspaper navigation seems to be sorting itself into four distinct arrangements, which he calls vertical, horizontal rollover, basic horizontal and site map,51 although this places undue emphasis on front pages and sections fronts, and indeed on internal navigation itself, in an era when most of the traffic is driven through search engines to the story, rather than to the paper. The Bivings Group posted their Top 10 newspaper websites,52 although these were drawn from their larger study of the top 100 in circulation, so the list is rather predictable (top three in order: The New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today).

Particulars of on line news headlines53 and other components of on line text are also likely to receive increased research attention. The future of the inverted pyramid story form is clearly in jeopardy, as Curley noted in his speech, not without remarking upon the irony of the CEO of the Associated Press making such a proclamation (he actually said, “The inverted pyramid is dead.”54) when AP had invented the form. Canavilhas proposed a “tumbled” pyramid, one essentially turned on its side to show the process of exploration from the initial story contact toward ever-expanding levels of explanation, contextualization and exploration. 55 Non-linear hypertext narratives have long since progressed to the point that software companies such as Eastgate56 exist to support products such as Tinderbox that produce these non-linear hypertexts. The intersection of this sort of content with on line journalism is yet another avenue of possible exploration.

Some summary comments

This paper attempts to make a case that there has been a watershed in the relationship between print and on line journalism. The next few years may, indeed be crucial. Immediate issues center on what sorts of content, interactive technologies, design, and usability strategies are likely to increase users of on line newspaper outlets. Synergies between print and on line versions seem likely to continue and perhaps will take new forms. Models for revenue still need to be sorted out.57

Larger issues center on the role and future of traditional journalism itself. If indeed there are strong arguments that journalism has an identifiable culture, and that it attains value in large part from its influence and standing in its geographic communities, then it remains to be seen whether and how that influence and standing can be transferred to the Web in the face of competing citizen initiatives that arose outside of that tradition. There are many who would rather that the citizen competition wins out. But if there is no absolute boundary between the two forms, as is becoming apparent, then there is no reason that some hybrid model is not a possibility, and even perhaps one to be preferred. What that looks like, how it functions and what are its influences need to be central topics of research and analysis.

Footnotes

1. Jeff Rutenbeck, “Bit by Bit: Hypercomplexity, Digital Media Studies and Higher Education.” Journal of the International Digital Media and Arts Association 3(1): 19–29.
2. Tom Curley. “What’s New” (November 5, 2007), http://www.ap.org/pages/about/whatsnew/wn_110107a.html. (November 5, 2007).
3. http://www.concernedjournalists.org/can-journalistic-principles-survive-and-thrive-digital-environment
4. Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel. The Elements of Journalism. What Newspeople Should Know and the Public Should Expect. (New York: Three Rivers Press, 2001).
5. See J. Michael Moshell. “The Core Principles of Digital Media. Journal of the International Digital Media Association 4 no. 2 (2007): 71–79.
6. http://www.mediabistro.com/photojournalism-31-ondemandvideo.html?c=jpencrs
7. Philip Meyer, The Vanishing Newspaper. Saving Journalism in the Information Age (Columbia: U. of Missouri Press, 2004).
8. Rachel Mersey, “Maybe the Internet Can Not Save Journalism: The Geographic Sense of Community Gap” (paper presented at the annual meeting of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Washington, D.C., August 8–12, 2007).
9. Katherine Fulton, “A Tour of Our Uncertain Future,” in Readings in Mass Communication. Media Literacy and Culture, ed. Kimberley B. Massey (Mountain View, CA: Mayfield, 1999).
10. Judy Woodruff, “Are Journalists Obsolete?” Red Smith Lecture in Journalism (Kansas City: Universal Press Syndicate).
11. Ibid., 9.
12. Ibid., 10.
13. Philip Meyer, The Vanishing Newspaper. Saving Journalism in the Information Age (Columbia: U. of Missouri Press, 2004), 227.
14. Judy Woodruff, “Are Journalists Obsolete?” Red Smith Lecture in Journalism (Kansas City: Universal Press Syndicate).
15. Ann Auman, “Survival in Paradise: How ‘Local Identity’ Helped Save the Honolulu Star-Bulletin.” Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly 84 (2007): 373–391.
16. Philip Meyer, The Vanishing Newspaper. Saving Journalism in the Information Age (Columbia: U. of Missouri Press, 2004), 227.
17. Ann Auman, “Survival in Paradise: How ‘Local Identity’ Helped Save the Honolulu Star-Bulletin.” Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly 84 (2007): 373–391.
18. Rachel Mersey, “Maybe the Internet Can Not Save Journalism: The Geographic Sense of Community Gap” (paper presented at the annual meeting of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Washington, D.C., August 8–12, 2007).
19. Thomas Hanitzsch, “Deconstructing Journalism Culture: Toward a Universal Theory,” Communication Theory 17 (2007): 367–385.
20. R. Keeble, “Journalism ethics: Towards an Orwellian critique?” in Journalism: Critical issues, ed. S. Allan (Maidenhead, UK: Open University Press) quoted in Thomas Hanitzsch, “Deconstructing Journalism Culture: Toward a Universal Theory,” Communication Theory 17 (2007), 380.
21. Ibid.
22. Michael Beam, “Gatekeeping: From Inception to the Internet” (paper presented at the annual meeting of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Washington, D.C., Aug. 8–12, 2007).
23. David Manning White, “The ‘Gate Keeper.’ A Case Study in the Selection of News,” Journalism Quarterly 59 (1950): 60–65.
24. Michael Beam, “Gatekeeping: From Inception to the Internet” (paper presented at the annual meeting of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Washington, D.C., Aug. 8–12, 2007), 13.
25. The Washington Post Company. “Loudon Extra.” Washington Post http://loudounextra.washingtonpost.com/ (accessed Nov. 7, 2007).
26. Amy Webb, “Little (Big) Threats” … myDigiMedia. http://mydigimedia.com/2007/11/01/little_big_threats.html (accessed Nov. 11, 2007).
27. Ibid.
28. Jurgen Habermas argues that communication in the public sphere, as distinct from private or public authority, is essential to the functioning of democracy.
29. David Tewksbury, “The Seeds of Audience Fragmentation: Specialization in the Use of Online News Site,” Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media 49 (2005): 332–348.
30. John Morton, “Buffeted,” American Journalism Review online.(2007, October/November) http://www.ajr.org/ (accessed Oct. 11, 2007).
31. Bivings Group, The,”American Newspapers and the Internet: Threat or Opportunity?” The Bivings Report. http://www.bivingsreport.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/newspaperstudy_22.pdf (accessed Aug. 17, 2007).
32. Erin Teeling, “American Newspapers and the Internet: Threat or Opportunity?” The Bivings Report. http://www.bivingsreport.com, posted July 19, 2007, (accessed Aug. 17, 2007).
33. Mark Tremayne, Amy S. Weis, and Rosental Alves, “From Product to Service: Dynamic Content in Online Newspapers.” (paper presented at the annual meeting of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Washington, D.C., August 8–12, 2007).
34. Donica Mensing, and Jennifer Greer, “Above the fold: A Comparison of the Lead Stories in Print and Online Newspapers,” in Internet Newspapers. The Making of a Mainstream Medium. ed. Xigen Li (Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum, 2005).
35. Mark Bowden, “Journalism’s future is in global dialogue,” philly.com. (June 17, 2007) http://www.philly.com, ( October 10, 2007).
36. “Preserving the American Dream,” Marketplace, American Public Media, http://marketplace.publicradio.org/americandream/ (accessed Nov. 6, 2007).
37. Jack Loechner, “15% Increase in Visits to Newspaper Websites,” Research Brief (April 13, 2007) http://publications.mediapost.com (April 16, 2007).
38. H. Iris Chyi, and Nick Lasorsa, “The Market Relation Between Online and Print Newspapers: The Case of Austin, Texas,” in Li, Internet Newspapers: The Making of a Mainstream Medium. ed. Xigen Li, (Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum, 2006); “New Study Finds Significant Crossover in Newspaper Readership and Usage of Newspaper Websites.” Newspaper National Network. (June 18, 2007). http://www.nnnlp.com (accessed August 31, 2007).
39. “Village Soup,” Village Soup Media Services, http://www.villagesoup.com/ (accessed Nov. 6, 2007)
40. Seth Lewis, “Next-generation news consumers: An exploratory study of young adults and their future with news and newspapers,” (paper presented at the annual meeting of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Washington, D.C., August 8–12, 2007).
41. Bivings Group, The, “American Newspapers and the Internet: Threat or Opportunity? The Bivings Report. http://www.bivingsreport.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/newspaperstudy_22.pdf (accessed Aug. 17, 2007).
42. “Magazine Industry. Out of Vogue,” The Economist, September 29, 2007, 72–73.
43. Howard Owens, “The next three years are critical for newspaper web sites,” howardowens.com. http://www.howardowens.com (accessed August 31, 2007).
44. Lucas Gindley, “Prepare for salary cuts across the board,” lucasgrindley.com. http://www.lucasgrindley.com, (accessed September 5, 2007).
45. Bivings Group, The, “American Newspapers and the Internet: Threat or Opportunity?” The Bivings Report. http://www.bivingsreport.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/newspaperstudy_22.pdf (accessed Aug. 17, 2007).
46. Robin Miller, “How newspapers can thrive on the World Wide Web,” Online Journalism Review.(July 24, 2007), http://www.ojr.org (accessed July 31, 2007).
47. Mary Jane Irwin, “Online video,” valleywag.com. (September 14, 2007), http://valleywag.com/tech/online-video (accessed September 17, 2007).
48. – Charles Ferguson, “Letter to the editor,” New York Times, (September 21, 2007) http://video.on.nytimes.com/?fr_story=54a96b0d367da6ce96eb1401f0e127f76688ddd6 (accessed November 7, 2007).
49. Bivings Group, The, “American Newspapers and the Internet: Threat or Opportunity? The Bivings Report. http://www.bivingsreport.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/newspaperstudy_22.pdf (accessed Aug. 17, 2007)
50. Will Sullivan, “Four trends in newspaper website design,” Journerdism August 19, http://www.journerdism.com, (accessed August 23, 2007); Erin Teeling, “Top 10 Best Newspaper Websites,” The Biivings Report, http:www.bivingsreport.com (accessed August 18, 2007).
51. Will Sullivan, “Four trends in newspaper website design,” Journerdism August 19, http://www.journerdism.com, (accessed August 23, 2007);/
52. Erin Teeling, “Top 10 Best Newspaper Websites,” The Bivings Report, http:www.bivingsreport.com (accessed August 18, 2007).
53. Elinor Mills, “Newspapers search for Web headline magic.,” CNET News.com. (February 2, 2007) http://www.news.com/Newspapers-search-for-Web-headline-magic/2100-1038_3-6155739.html?tag=item (accessed March 27, 2007).
54. Tom Curley. “What’s New” (November 5, 2007), http://www.ap.org/pages/about/whatsnew/wn_110107a.html. (November 5, 2007
55. João Canavilhas, “Web Journalism: From the Inverted Pyramid to the Tumbled Pyramid. Journal of the International Digital Media and Arts Association 4 no. 2 (2007): 21–29.
56. Eastgate Systems, Inc. http://www.eastgate.com/ (accessed Nov. 1, 2007).
57. Howard Owens, “The next three years are critical for newspaper web sites,” howardowens.com. http://www.howardowens.com (accessed August 31, 2007); Judy Woodruff, “Are Journalists Obsolete?” Red Smith Lecture in Journalism (Kansas City: Universal Press Syndicate).

Works Cited

Auman, Ann. “Survival in Paradise: How ‘Local Identity’ Helped Save the Honolulu Star-Bulletin.” Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly 84, no. 2 (2007): 373–391.

Beam, Michael A. “Gatekeeping: From Inception to the Internet.” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Washington, D.C., August 8–12, 2007.

Bivings Group, The. American Newspapers and the Internet: Threat or Opportunity? (2007, July 19). from http://www.bivingsreport.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/newspaperstudy_22.pdf (accessed August 17, 2007).

Bowden, Mark. “Journalism’s future is in global dialogue,” philly.com. http://www.philly.com. (October 10, 2007)

Canavilhas, João. “Web Journalism: From the Inverted Pyramid to the Tumbled Pyramid.” Journal of the International Digital Media and Arts Association 4 no. 2 (2007): 21–29.

Chyi, H. Iris, and Nick Lasorsa, “The Market Relation Between Online and Print Newspapers: The Case of Austin, Texas.” In Internet Newspapers. The Making of a Mainstream Medium. Edited by Xigen Li. Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum, 2006. 193–208.

Committee of Concerned Journalists. “Can Journalistic Principles Survive and Thrive in a Digital Environment?” (October 29, 2007). http://www.concernedjournalists.org/can-journalistic-principles-survive-and-thrive-digital-environment (accessed November 5, 2007).

Curley, Tom. “What’s New” (November 5, 2007), http://www.ap.org/pages/about/whatsnew/wn_110107a.html. (November 5, 2007

Fulton, Katherine. “A Tour of Our Uncertain Future.” In Readings in Mass Communication. Media Literacy and Culture. Edited by Kimberley B. Massey. Mountain View, CA.: Mayfield, 1999. 64–71.

Grindley, Lucas. “Prepare for salary cuts across the board.” lucasgrindley.com. (July 25, 2007) http://www.lucasgrindley.com (accessed September 5, 2007).

Hanitzsch, Thomas. “Deconstructing Journalism Culture: Toward a Universal Theory.” Communication Theory 17, 4: 367–385.

Irwin, Mary Jane. “Online video.” valleywag.com. (September 14, 2007) http://valleywag.com/tech/online-video (accessed September 17, 2007).

Kovach, Bill and Tom Rosenstiel. The Elements of Journalism. What Newspeople Should Know and the Public Should Expect. (New York: Three Rivers Press, 2001).

Lewis, Seth. “Next-generation news consumers: An exploratory study of young adults and their future with news and newspapers.” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Washington, D.C., August 8–12, 2007.

Loechner, Jack. 15% Increase in Visits to Newspaper Websites. Research Brief. Center for Media Research. (April 13, 2007) http://publications.mediapost.com (accessed April 16, 2007).

“Magazine Industry. Out of Vogue.” The Economist September 29, 2007, 72–73.

“Preserving the American Dream.” Marketplace, American Public Media, http://marketplace.publicradio.org/americandream/ (accessed Nov. 6, 2007).

Mensing, Donica and Jennifer D. Greer.”Above the fold: A Comparison of the Lead Stories in Print and Online Newspapers.” In Internet Newspapers. The Making of a Mainstream Medium. Edited by Xigen Li. Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum, 2005. 283–302.

Mersey, Rachel. “Maybe the Internet Can Not Save Journalism: The Geographic Sense of Community Gap.” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Washington, D.C., August 8–12, 2007

Meyer, Philip. The Vanishing Newspaper. Saving Journalism in the Information Age. Columbia, Miss. U. of Missouri Press, 2004.

Miller, Robin. “How newspapers can thrive on the World Wide Web.” Online Journalism Review. (July 24, 2007) http://www.ojr.org (accessed July 31, 2007).

Mills, Elinor. “Newspapers search for Web headline magic.” CNET News.com. (February 2, 2007), http://news.com.com/ (accessed March 27, 2007).

Morton, John. “Buffeted.” American Journalism Review online. (October/November, 2007) http://www.ajr.org/ (accessed October 11, 2007).

Moshell, J. Michael. “The Core Principles of Digital Media.” Journal of the International Digital Media Association 4, 2 (2007): 71–79.

Newspaper National Network. “New Study Finds Significant Crossover in Newspaper Readership and Usage of Newspaper Websites.” (June 18, 2007). http://www.nnnlp.com (accessed August 31, 2007).

Owens, Howard.. “The next three years are critical for newspaper web sites.” howardowens.com. (July 28, 2007). http://www.howardowens.com (accessed August 31, 2007).

Sullivan, Will. “Four trends in newspaper website design.” Journerdism. (August 19, 2007). http://www.journerdism.com (accessed August 23, 2007).

Rutenbeck, Jeff. “Bit by Bit: Hypercomplexity, Digital Media Studies and Higher Education.” Journal of the International Digital Media and Arts Association 3 (1): 19–29.

Teeling, Erin. “American Newspapers and the Internet: Threat or Opportunity?” The Bivings Report. (July 19, 2007).http://www.bivingsreport.com (accessed August 17, 2007).

Teeling, Erin. “Top 10 Best Newspaper Websites.” theBivingsreport. (August 14, 2007). http://www.bivingsreport.com (accessed August 18, 2007).

Tewksbury, David. “The Seeds of Audience Fragmentation: Specialization in the Use of Online News Sites.” Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media 49. no. 3(2005): 332–348.

Tremayne, Mark, Amy S,Weis, and Rosental Alves. “From Product to Service: Dynamic Content in Online Newspapers.” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Washington, D.C., August 8–12, 2007.

Washington Post Company, The. “Loudon Extra.” Washington Post. http://loudounextra.washingtonpost.com/ (accessed Nov. 7, 2007).

Webb, Amy. “Little (Big) Threats.” … myDigiMedia. (November 1, 2007). http://mydigimedia.com/2007/11/01/little_big_threats.html. (accessed November 1, 2007).

White, David Manning. “The ‘Gate Keeper.’ A Case Study in the Selection of News.” Journalism Quarterly 59, no. 1 (1950):60–65.

Woodruff, Judy. “Are Journalists Obsolete? Red Smith Lecture in Journalism. Kansas City: Universal Press Syndicate, 2007.