The chapter discusses the challenges facing the news industry, including shrinking newsrooms, declining audiences for traditional media, and a broken business model. New technologies have disrupted the industry, though some journalists are adapting by learning new skills. Financing high-quality journalism is a challenge as most media rely on advertising profits. Solutions discussed include funding from non-profits, venture capital, and individual donors. The chapter also addresses the credibility problems caused by "fake news" and how journalists can better engage audiences.

1. CHAPTER 2:
The State of the News
Industry

2. CHAPTER OVERVIEW
• 1. How new ways of financing the news are
being created
• 2. How changing technology has affected
journalism
• 3. Why the media has a credibility problem
• 4. What fake news is and why it’s disturbing
• 5. How journalists can better engage with
audiences
• 6. How changes in journalism require new job
skills

3. The Bad News
•Newsrooms are shrinking due
to technology
•Audiences for “traditional”
media are smaller
•The business model for
journalism is breaking down
•Public Trust is not great

4. The Good News
•Journalists are still doing what
they do best – telling stories
•Many are learning new and
valuable skills
•Technology may be behind the
loss of some jobs, but it can also
give the journalist new avenues of
work

5. •Your book poses an essential
question facing the news industry
and society in general: “How do we
best finance news gathering in a
society where the vast majority of
media operations are for-profit
corporations? And how do we do
this when profits are shrinking?”
The Problem of Financing the News

6. •There are several financing models
discussed in your book:
•Financed by Foundations
•Financed by Venture Capital
•Financed by an Old Media/New
Media Hybrid
•Financed with other Hybrid Models
•Financed by Individual
Entrepreneurs
The Problem of Financing the News

7. • For the most part, private citizens, families or publicly
traded companies own the legacy* media operations
in the US. As a result, these companies continue to
exist only if they earn a profit. Traditionally, most
revenue has come from advertising, with some
additional revenue from newsstand sales,
subscriptions and event sponsorships. Many new
journalism sites aim to follow the same model by
supporting themselves through advertising or
subscriptions. Nonprofit sites, however, seek only to
support their operations – to pay staff and other costs
– and not to a make profit for owners or investors.
*"Legacy Media" are companies that specialize in traditional
media forms such as newspapers, magazines, radio and
television.
The Problem of Financing the News

8. • The news industry is having to reinvent itself,
and, as in other industries, “disruptive
technologies” are a primary cause of its
problems.
• “Disruptive Technologies” are innovations that
significantly alters the way that consumers,
industries, or businesses operate.
• In the case of the news industry, those disruptive
technologies are the Internet and Social Media –
they’ve come along and significantly altered the
News Distribution Paradigm, their business
models, audience composition, etc.
The Problem of Technology-Driven Change

9. • Perhaps even more troubling to our democracy is
the potential loss of in-depth investigative reporting.
As you book tells us, journalist Alex S. Jones (not the
host of Infowars) praises the technological changes
that are altering the journalism landscape, but he
fears the loss of the “iron core of news that serves as
a watchdog over government, holds the powerful
accountable and gives citizens what they need.” Can
this “iron core” be saved? Of course it can but we,
the people, need to demand and support doing so
by determining how much reliable and fair reporting
is worth to us…I argue it’s priceless and should be
protected at all costs…how about you?
The Problem of Technology-Driven Change

10. •Your book has a useful section in this
chapter on “Fake News” and the
credibility problem facing the news
industry
•Be sure to read that thoroughly and engage
with the proposed solutions:
•Engaging Readers, Listeners and Viewers
•Embracing , Not Fighting, Citizen
Journalism
•New Skills for Jobs in Journalism
The Credibility Problem & “Fake News”

11. TRUTH in journalism
•The classic definition of journalism tells us
that while journalism is not going to
provide an absolute, objective truth -
because that is simply impossible - it
should strive to provide the best
approximation of the truth that is
possible in the time available.

12. “fake news”
• There’s no denying that “fake news” has become
part of our cultural lexicon about journalism
…but “fake” in what way?
• FAKE = Factual but not important/not really a news
story
• FAKE = Factual but a story being run instead of
another, more important/relevant one
• FAKE = Factually wrong (partially or completely) but
well-intentioned
• FAKE = stories that undeniably alter the truth WITH
intention

13. “fake news”
• A proper definition of genuine "Fake News" is
"stories that undeniably alter the truth with
intention" (not without intention). Journalists
are like all people and they make mistakes
without intending to, but they also make public
corrections once the error is identified. It's the
intention that's important here, not the mistake.

14. “fake news”
•Is mainstream/alternative news media
ever “fake” in one or more of these
ways?
•OF COURSE IT IS!
•For as long as there’s been mass media
there’s been a battle over control of
it…for the highest stakes possible
•Journalism = constitutionally protected
profession

16. TRUTH in journalism
•The importance of this battle was not
long on our founding fathers
•There’s a reason “Journalist” is one of
the few constitutionally protected
professions
•Because DEMOCRACY depends on a
free press that can keep watch on
those in power!

17. TRUTH in journalism
•The importance of this battle was not
long on our founding fathers
•There’s a reason “Journalist” is one of
the few constitutionally protected
professions
•Because DEMOCRACY depends on a
free press that can keep watch on
those in power!

18. TRUTH in journalism
• There should be a robust and vigorous discussion
about the veracity of a society’s news media – a
discussion that should never end!
• “Journalism” is not an island unto itself – it’s an
island populated with people exhibiting all the
strengths and weaknesses we all possess. No one,
including even the most ethical and industrious
journalist, is infallible.
• The question is – and always has been and, I
imagine, always will be – “who should I trust?”

19. TRUTH in journalism
•To that end need to encourage people to
trust sources that strive to:
•Investigate & Inform
•Accurately & Fairly
•All in order to get the best
approximation of the truth
that is possible in the time
available.

20. TRUTH in journalism
• The choices will be personal – they always have
been – but what matters is that people, regardless
of existing beliefs, willingly pursue sources that are
ethically pursuing “truth in journalism”.
• It’s not that ethical journalism doesn’t exist – it
certainly does – the difficulty often comes with
overcoming news consumers’ own biases such as
“Selective Attention” and “Selective Retention”
which are embedded within human
communication.

21. CURRENT “defense”
• NEWS LITERACY SKILLS:
• “News literacy is the acquisition of 21st-
century, critical-thinking skills for analyzing
and judging the reliability of news and
information, differentiating among facts,
opinions and assertions in the media we
consume, create and distribute. It can be
taught most effectively in cross-curricular,
inquiry-based formats at all grade levels. It is
a necessary component for literacy in
contemporary society.”

22. •Make sure you’ve read Chapter #2
•Participate in this week’s Discussion Board
and Assigned Work
•Take the AP Quiz (remember you must get
a 100 on all of them to pass the class but
you can take them as many times as
needed)
LOOKING AHEAD