Steiger is concerned about the decline of watchdog journalism

“There is no question it is a revolution”, said Paul Steiger of ProPublica of the changes brought about by the internet to journalism as he kicks off the the International Online Journalism Symposium at UT Austin in Texas.

Steiger has three ways of looking at what is happening to the media:

• The future of newspapers is terrible
• The future for journalism is good
• The future for journalists is mixed

Particularly when it comes to the future for journalists, Steiger said that this was as exciting a time as he can remember for young and adaptable reporters.

But for many talented and experienced journalists, the outlook is bleak, especially for journalists in their fifties who should be at the peak of their careers.

Steiger talked about the recession and the problem facing news outlets, warning that there will be many more newspapers to close.

He also expressed concern that many more who will squeeze into a pale shadow of themselves, and be unable to fulfill their service to society

While the internet offers tremendous potential, Steiger warned that the destruction of the newspaper model is hurting society by undermining the watchdog role of the press.

According to him, in-depth and investigative reporting can only be done by professional journalists and not by bloggers or “citizen journalists”.

He also lamented that the broad scope of coverage in metropolitan newspapers is also suffering, with readers offered a far less diverse range of options.

Instead, he talked about the rise of boutique news outlets, such as hyperlocal web-only operations that highly focused with tight budgets. There will also be foreign-focused sites or sites with a topic focus.

Whether Steiger likes it or not, what has happened to newspapers is the unbundling of the news. The convenience of a product that delivered a bundle of news to the doorstep has been undermined by the internet.

Steiger concludes his keynote with words of both hope and fear, talking that we are in a period of creative destruction, and “creative destruction offers opportunity and terror”.

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