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From the Zogby polling group:

Zogby Poll: 67% View Traditional Journalism as "Out of Touch"

Internet is the top source of news for nearly half of Americans; Survey finds two-thirds dissatisfied with the quality of journalism

Two thirds of Americans - 67% - believe traditional journalism is out of touch with what Americans want from their news, a new We Media/Zogby Interactive poll shows.

The survey also found that while most Americans (70%) think journalism is important to the quality of life in their communities, two thirds (64%) are dissatisfied with the quality of journalism in their communities.

Meanwhile, the online survey documented the shift away from traditional sources of news, such as newspapers and TV, to the Internet - most dramatically among so-called digital natives - people under 30 years old.

Nearly half of respondents (48%) said their primary source of news and information is the Internet, an increase from 40% who said the same a year ago. Younger adults were most likely to name the Internet as their top source - 55% of those age 18 to 29 say they get most of their news and information online, compared to 35% of those age 65 and older. These oldest adults are the only age group to favor a primary news source other than the Internet, with 38% of these seniors who said they get most of their news from television. Overall, 29% said television is their main source of news, while fewer said they turn to radio (11%) and newspapers (10%) for most of their news and information. Just 7% of those age 18 to 29 said they get most of their news from newspapers, while more than twice as many (17%) of those age 65 and older list newspapers as their top source of news and information.

Web sites are regarded as a more important source of news and information than traditional media outlets - 86% of Americans said Web sites were an important source of news, with more than half (56%) who view these sites as very important. Most also view television (77%), radio (74%), and newspapers (70%) as important sources of news, although fewer than say the same about blogs (38%).

The Zogby Interactive survey of 1,979 adults nationwide was conducted Feb. 20-21, 2008, and carries a margin of error of +/- 2.2 percentage points. The survey results will be featured at this week's fourth-annual We Media Forum and Festival in Miami, hosted by the University of Miami School of Communication and organized and produced by iFOCOS, a Reston, Va.-based media think tank (www.ifocos.org). This is the second year of the survey.

"For the second year in a row we have documented a crisis in American journalism that is far more serious than the industry's business challenges - or maybe a consequence of them," said Andrew Nachison, co-founder of iFOCOS. "Americans recognize the value of journalism for their communities, and they are unsatisfied with what they see. While the U.S. news industry sheds expenses and frets about its future, Americans are dismayed by its present. Meanwhile, we see clearly the generational shift of digital natives from traditional to online news - so the challenge for traditional news companies is complex. They need to invest in new products and services - and they have. But they've also got to invest in quality, influence and impact. They need to invest in journalism that makes a difference in people's lives. That's a moral and leadership challenge - and a business opportunity for whoever can meet it."

The survey finds the Internet not only outweighs television, radio, and newspapers as the most frequently used and important source for news and information, but Web sites were also cited as more trustworthy than more traditional media sources - nearly a third (32%) said Internet sites are their most trusted source for news and information, followed by newspapers (22%), television (21%) and radio (15%).

Other findings from the survey include:

• Although the vast majority of Americans are dissatisfied with the quality of journalism (64%), overall satisfaction with journalism has increased to 35% in this survey from 27% who said the same in 2007.
• Both traditional and new media are viewed as important for the future of journalism - 87% believe professional journalism has a vital role to play in journalism's future, although citizen journalism (77%) and blogging (59%) are also seen as significant by most Americans.
• Very few Americans (1%) consider blogs their most trusted source of news, or their primary source of news (1%).
• Three in four (75%) believe the Internet has had a positive impact on the overall quality of journalism.
• 69% believe media companies are becoming too large and powerful to allow for competition, while 17% believe they are the right size to adequately compete.

Republicans (79%) and political independents (75%) are most likely to feel disenchanted with conventional journalism, but the online survey found 50% of Democrats also expressed similar concerns. Those who identify themselves as "very conservative" were among the most dissatisfied, with 89% who view traditional journalism as out of touch.

For more on the study, and to comment on its implications, visit: www.ifocos.org

For a complete methodological statement on this survey, please visit:
http://www.zogby.com/methodology/readmeth.dbm?ID=1277

A new news site from IAC has been rumored for a while and it now looks like an initial version is live at news.ask.com.

The new site, which is also linked to from the www.ask.com homepage is basically Ask's answer to Google News.  The site features an aggregated view of news from a variety of sources.  The key new innovation is something they're calling the "Big Factor" --

Few people are probably even aware that fora.tv even exists.

I actually believe that the site is a very good idea:  online video content network aggregating public affairs videos.  Sort of a youtube meets npr.  Can't make it to a seminar?  Go to fora and catch up on the content.

The only problem is that the current site execution is lousy and the user experience is rather painful.

Do you think there is a worthwhile business here?

What would you do to save Fora.tv?

My well placed sources claim that a deal for CBS to acquire Digg is finally in motion and very near the finish line.

Valley Wag previously wrote that CBS backed out of the Diggstakes.

One of the hottest topics of late is the evolution of the news. Make that the reinvention of news ... if someone can figure out the new economic model for it, that is. 

What is known is that the business of delivering the news has to change.  It's no longer economical to produce print in the age of digital.  How can a printing company saddled with manufacturing and real-world product delivery compete with the economies of virtualization?  And, it's not just the print guys.  The wires, TV nets, etc. are all facing a similar crisis.  Newsrooms around the world are struggling with the big question of how to pay for top notch reporters when the margins of delivering the news continue to dwindle in the face of citizen journalism, growing online share vs. tv broadcast news, and mind-numbingly fast news-cycles when the cost of a blog post is just about zero.

So, what's next for the news?  What is the new news?

I've written before that I believe that the rise and rise and rise of User Generated Content will over time cause a flight to quality, as readers/consumers will look to Authoritative User Generated Content to help them filter out the newsworthy from the news.

That said, there is power in the masses.  Hundreds of thousands of citizen journalists, appropriately engaged, can deliver some awesome news -- with a reach far greater than any wire service or modern day newsroom.

Where does all this lead to?  I've got plenty more ideas here which I will share over time.  It surely is an exciting time to be following the business of making news..

A number of players are hard at work trying to reinvent the space. 

By now, everyone is familiar with Digg, the original UGC pioneer, which is notsomuch a newsmaking site as a site for people to post and rate 3rd party stories they find interesting.  Reddit is a variant of the same story.  A new player, Mixx, claims to be different/better, but for the life of me I don't know how/why.  Use any of these 3 sites to learn what the broader online community finds compelling on a particular day from news, blogs, etc.  Caution #1:  It can be quite a crapshoot on all of these sites, as you are just as likely to be directed to news of the bizarre to hard news.  Caution #2:  All of these sites skew geek. 




If you're looking for a new way to read the news, Newser claims to be a "faster, smarter" way to get your own personalized version of the news.  Self described as:  "An online news service that scans Internet news sources and, using human and machine-driven aggregation, delivers the best information in concise, efficient summaries, together with photos, video and audio and links to original stories."  Bokay.  So, you're a "smarter" aggregator.  Interesting, but that still doesn't change the economic model.

3 companies who are trying to more radically change the economics of news are Newsvine, Current, and NowPublic. 

Of the 3, Newsvine, which was just purchased by MSNBC, is closest to the Digg model for hard news.  Readers suggest and rate which news stories are most relevant at a given moment in time.  With Newsvine's user-gen ratings and algorithms, there's no need for an editorial board, as the site smartly lays out a constantly updated page of relevant news.

Current from Current TV, Al Gore's network, is sort of like Newsvine meets citizen journalism, combining user-created clips on anything and everything with user-posted and rated and commented articles and stories from 3rd parties.  Much of this follows the CurrentTV model, which is all about user-generated television.

NowPublic is perhaps the most ambitious of the group.  NowPublic has signed up more than >130,000 citizen journalists around the globe (140+ countries) to literally report the news as it happens, ala a new type of newswire.  Instead of employing journalists, NowPublic relies on what they call "crowd powered media."  NowPublic claims that they do not pay for news, rather they encourage citizen journalists to report news and allow them to own all rights to their stories.  NowPublic recently began licensing stories on their "citizen journalists" behalf to the AP.  Me-thinks the business model is currently a bit shaky, but that there's gold in them hills somewhere.  Find the model which enables people to earn some decent money by reporting the news -- even in their spare time -- and reward and recognize people who are the best at delivering quality stories -- and we could reinvent a new way to produce the news.

more to come on this one...