This is the first time I've seen this argument advanced
More audiences are turning to the Web for news. However, the Web isn't producing the profits needed to underwrite news gathering, which may lead to a decline in journalism quality, says a new media study.
Here's an excerpt from the story:
The increased competition, especially in new media, has meant that the bulk of investment spending has been on distribution platforms rather than news gathering. In fact, tighter markets and slipping margins have led to cost cutting and a lowering of the number of people collecting and preparing the news.
There is a direct link to lower standards. This is exacerbated by the rise of cable news channels where increasingly, programming consists of the raw elements of news. For instance, vision from journalists embedded with US forces in Iraq went direct to air on cable channels without editing or contextual interpretation, lessening the role of journalists as gatekeepers over what is fact and what is propaganda, and eliminating the need for editors to package the news into segments for use in bulletins.
If there is a continuing decline in the roles and standards of journalism, profound social impacts will flow from that. When we had less choice, and a tighter control over journalistic standards and ethics, there was a greater common public understanding of news and the media operated more like a public town square for the exchange of views and information.”