Media Faces 'Two Years of Carnage'

I guess I'd feel sympathy for them, but considering for the most part the media is the enemy of conservatism, I'll shall shed no tears. They created their own mess, let them stew in it.

JOURNALISTS have been warned they cannot be spectators if they are to survive the new world of media fragmentation and digitalisation -- an environment dubbed a "perfect storm".

"A report, Life in the Clickstream: The Future of Journalism, released today by the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance, warns that the Western media industry faces "two years of carnage", squeezed by the global economic meltdown and the unravelling of traditional economic models.

The report reveals that more than 12,000 journalists worldwide have lost their jobs so far this year.

Commentators from around the world warn the multiplying effects of cost-cutting and reduced quality could result in the collapse of the US's biggest media companies, while in Britain it is predicted that between five and 11 newspapers will vanish.

Emily Bell, The Guardian's content director, warns Britain could be left without a single British-owned broadcaster outside of the BBC and the once vibrant regional media market faces near annihilation.

Media Alliance federal secretary Christopher Warren says journalism has traditionally thrived on the emergence of disruptive technologies even as economic models have changed.

"Like all crises, the challenges journalism faces are rewriting everything we thought we knew about the news media and causing us to question the basis on which the industry has survived and flourished," Warren says.

The shifts experienced in the media are "exciting and disquieting", and journalists are using technology to find new and progressive ways to keep the public informed, he says. It's "disquieting because the mainstream industry is in such turmoil".

Maybe they can start blogging. But they should realize they would no longer have a built-in audience and you're only as good as your last post.

I doubt most of them would survive knowing that.

The craziest notion floating about is bailing out the networks. If the government thinks the media is hated now, try that and see how much respect they get.

Granted, we already have NBC on welfare.