Anxiety, excitement and optimism for journalism

Journalism as a trade seems to be in a panic. With newsroom cutbacks in small markets like Springfield and Galesburg as well as big operations in San Francisco and San Jose, it’s not surprising that people who care about traditional journalism are anxious.

However, writes Dan Gillmor in the San Francisco Chronicle, if the issue is the future of journalism --- as opposed to corporate business models --- there's at least as much reason for optimism as fear. The same technologies that disrupt the news industry offer opportunities for creating a more diverse, and ultimately more vibrant, journalistic system.

"There's never been a better time ... to be a journalistic entrepreneur," Gillmore says, "-- to invent your own job, to become part of the generation that figures out how to produce and, yes, sell the journalism we desperately need as a society and as citizens of a shrinking planet. The young journalists who are striking out on their own today, experimenting with techniques and business models, will invent what's coming."

Read his entire piece here --
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2007/06/07/EDGGTP3FOE1.DTL