Can journalism survive the Internet Age?  There are many types of journalists, and it is now clear that some types of journalism will survive and other types will not.  Gone are the days when traditional media companies could charge for reporting the news.   There is declining readership for newspapers and declining viewership for television — those trends mean that advertising revenue is down for both media outlets.  With revenue down, those companies cannot maintain the same staff for the news functions, and thus these news outlets reduce their workforces.  Furthermore, these companies have had to invest in rich media websites that bring in a fraction of the revenue that television offered.

With such trends facing the industry, there appears to be no future for traditional investigative journalists.  This is a loss to society as these investigators probed government for leaks, waste, and corruption.  There may be no journalists to fill that gap.  Another trend is the decline of the local newspaper.  Many citizens get their news from the Internet; they do not have the inclination to read the newspaper nor even pay for a subscription.  This trend will lead to a loss of local news coverage for the local newspaper; the local news will increasingly be dominated by Internet coverage. 

There will be more content and more free content.  Everyone one of us will be contributing in some way to the growth of the Internet.  The amount of content sill continue to soar.  Thus, no longer will one have to wait 12 to 24 hours before the newspaper puts out another paper to read breaking news, or wait for television to report the news.  The Internet promises to provide information instantaneously or thereabouts, and represents freedom from the newspaper and television oligopoly.