Most news organisations are now owned by publicly quoted companies, whose sole aim is to generate profit and shareholder value for it's owners.The result over the past number of years has been newspaper closures, job losses and less journalists reporting on a far smaller pool of stories.
Were there ever 'Good Old Days' in the news industry, or have things always been going to the dogs?
Whatever the case, it's highly unlikely that news owners are going to continue ploughing money into papers which continue to generate minimal profit from what is undoubtedly the news delivery system of the future (i.e. the internet.)
Is there a Citizen Kane in every market, or are we going to have to look at new ways of funding our news oganisations?
What is evident is that the shareholder model does not work for news organisations and benevolent billionaires notwithstanding, the non-profit model is the only way to guarantee a free and fair press.
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