Big Ideas

Eric [Newton] provided a brilliantly cogent and concise look at a complex and often esoteric subject: the changing news ecosystem. He explained the physics and gravitational forces of change in understandable terms. The big ideas bear repeating:

1. Media usage is expanding, not contracting
2. the daily newspaper may not be the best source of information about a community
3. Alternative media are growing
4. In general, people are wary of institutions including traditional intermediaries of news and information
5. Newspapers are approaching the demographics cliff. Each generations reads the daily paper less than the generation before it.
6. Young people are MORE interested in news than past generations
7. We are awash in information. User-generated content (USG) is becoming mainstream.
8. The news industry is at the same disagregating and reagregating.
9. Ad share is rapidly shifting. By 2011 spending by consumer end-users will exceed that of advertising spending.
10. Audiences are driving the future of news.

Eric's full presentation is on that handy flash drive that you are no doubt downloading.