Will Conventional Media Survive the 21st Century

I interviewed a young lady fresh out of a San Diego college today for a job in our news department. She told me she gets her news from all over the place including blogs, web sites, TV, and social media. Do people really think social media such as Facebook etc. provide news? Well, I suppose so since Barack Obama used Twitter to announce his Presidential bid. To me news has to be factual, balanced, and fair. A lot of web chatter is none of these. It's often opinionated, not factual, and sometimes plain, outright nasty. What gives me pause is the recent bankruptcy of Freedom Communications, which publishes the Orange County Register and the Yuma Sun, among others. Tribune Company, publisher of the Los Angeles Times, is also bankrupt. TV broadcasters Young Communications and Pappas Telecasting are bankrupt as well. They are all victims of the recession, too much debt and too little revenue as well as competition from new media. Gosh....the Desert Sun has 9 pages on the average Monday, and has no classifieds at all. Who will provide investigative reporting, fair, impartial, and objective coverage of local events if the conventional media goes away? Not Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, or any of their like!