"The relationship between the news business and consumers of news is breaking down and reforming at a dizzying pace as digital technology gives audiences new ways to engage with information. Certainly, every journalism era is transformational. Newspaper domination gave way to radio and broadcast television, followed by cable TV with its 24-hour news cycle. Each sea change created financial winners and losers for both the national and local news ecosystems."
"The digital era is even more disruptive to legacy journalism because smartphones and social media put information choices - and information creation - in the hands of each consumer. The great gatekeepers of journalism must compete for attention and revenue with myriad other options, from websites and podcasts to TikTok users and individual Substack writers. The results have been catastrophic for the news business, especially print publications, as audiences scatter. TV news is now under the same pressure. All must adapt or fall further behind."
"The Medill Local News Initiative at Northwestern University produces groundbreaking research about the digital revolution's impact on local journalism, with the goal of supporting industry professionals as they reshape news organizations into sustainable, vigorous enterprises. For the second year in a row, the Local News Initiative commissioned a comprehensive, scientific survey of news consumer habits and opinions in the Chicago metropolitan area."
The relationship between the news business and news consumers is breaking down and reforming rapidly as digital technology offers new engagement methods. Historical media transitions—from newspapers to radio and television and then cable—created winners and losers across national and local ecosystems. The current digital era intensifies disruption because smartphones and social media place information selection and creation into individual hands. Legacy news gatekeepers now compete with websites, podcasts, TikTok creators and Substack writers, fragmenting audiences and revenues and hitting print and TV hard. The Medill Local News Initiative conducted a scientific survey of 1,101 Chicago-area adults across city, suburbs, exurbs and rural outskirts to examine local news consumption.
Read at Poynter
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