ABSTRACT
In recent decades, technological change has so disrupted established media markets that the long-term survival of many traditional news media companies is seriously in doubt. Audience attention to news has steadily eroded over the past 50 years, particularly among young people. The advent of low-cost consumer-oriented digital production technologies has allowed audience members to become content producers in their own right, while the Internet offers them global distribution at the touch of a button. As the audience has fragmented across these new content options, so too have advertisers, making it increasingly difficult for media organizations to pull together enough advertising revenue to cover the costs of quality journalism. Thus, traditional news organizations are fighting a three-front war: increased competition in information production and distribution, combined with declining demand for news content and disappearing revenue sources.
