Some cause for optimism but a long way to go

After Emily Bells's comments yesterday,I am sure that the media industry is in a state of perpetual gloom.

Better news though coming out of a convention of journalists in Georgia.(For the benefit of Sky viewers that is the American state)

They have concluded that

The future of journalism may be in niche products supported less by advertising and more by corporate sponsorships, by interest groups and by public broadcasting-style memberships,

And their comments on newspapers are worth hearing again and the message is that it is not new media that is the problem

But even without the competition from the Internet, major metropolitan papers would have declining revenues
"It would still be impossible," he said, "for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution to create a newspaper and throw it on the front lawn on one side of this metro area and throw it on the door step of the other side and still make any money.
Newspapers are in trouble not only because classified advertising has shifted to the Internet, but also because large news organizations took on huge debt to expand during the last 20 years, said Kent Middleton, head of the University of Georgia's journalism department