Traditional news outlets are being challenged by "new media." But, to what end? What happens to a democracy when true, in-depth reporting cannot support itself and disappears. Here are some interesting comments on the future of journalism that also includes previous findings from the Aspen Institute. One conclusion ...It is time to try things. Another...funding is still a major issue.

Of the Press: Models for Transforming American Journalism

Posted by KnightComm on Apr 30, 2010 in Featured, Local Journalism, Spotlight

KnightComm is pleased to provide an advance download of the Aspen Institute Communication and Society Program’s publication, Of the Press: Models for Transforming American Journalism. The report addresses a critical aspect of the Knight Commission’s deliberations: the need to develop innovative business models for “sustainable, meaningful, local journalism”. It is written by Michael R. Fancher, former executive editor of The Seattle Times and a participant in the writing of the Knight Commission report.

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Of the Press: Models for Transforming American Journalism details the insights and forward-thinking frameworks resulting from the 2009 Forum on Communications and Society (FOCAS) in which over 40 leaders, innovators and entrepreneurs addressed the crisis facing journalism, highlighted by recent closings and bankruptcies of numerous traditional news outlets. The Report describes the innovations, experimental business models, and evolving philosophies that could be harnessed to preserve journalism as a critical instrument in American society. The idea to gather leaders and innovators to address the changing news marketplace was closely related to the work of the Knight Commission on the Information Needs of Communities, itself an outcome of an earlier FOCAS and which calls for ”innovation, competition, and support for business models that provide marketplace incentives for quality journalism”.