NZ Herald: Gavin Ellis – Paying the piper

Gavin Ellis shares his lecture notes about the end of journalism, and why predictions of its death have been exaggerated.

The rise in use of eReaders as well as other digital developments could see journalism continue to survive, and Ellis explains the news media came to be in their current situation, and why serious journalism cannot be allowed to wither.

An excerpt: (read in full here)

“However, while the diversity of News Corporation and its annual revenue of around $US30 billion provides a degree of security for Rupert Murdoch, other newspaper groups are experiencing conditions that suggest the prophecies of doom are not without some substance.

“The recession and the impact of the Internet on newspaper classified advertising are real, but countries do move out of recession and future developments in digital media offer opportunities for news media companies to build new subscription models. Yet this will not solve newspapers’ problems. There are deep-seated faults that became embedded before either the Internet or the recession hit the industry. Many of these characteristics have also affected commercial broadcasting but they are most pronounced in newspaper companies.”