New media on the rise Down Under

The Australian describes Murdoch's News Corp's situation. Many have been closely watching Murdoch's moves over the past few months, noting his pessimism in the newspaper market and sudden intense focus on the Net. It is now thought that he is on the lookout for a Web portal, sparking rumors that he is interested in buying America Online, currently the hottest Internet property on the block. 

An article in The Age talks of converged journalism, newsrooms combining all media platforms and journalists trained in print, broadcast, radio and Internet journalism, which many have hailed to be the future.  In this future, news companies will also involve their readers in the news process.

The article sites the common example of Bluffton Today, a South Carolina paper that gives each reader his or her own blog and photo blogs which the paper then judges for the five best.

Still, in another article, The Age says that "Newspapers' future (is) healthy," as long as they integrate new technologies and learn how to produce quality journalism on several platforms. The article cites The Age's own example; it was the first Australian paper on the Web. 

The paper's editor, Andrew Jaspan said, "At that point it ceased just being a newspaper in the traditional sense. We always saw the advent of the Internet as a case of not print or online, but print and online."

Overall, Jaspan is optimistic about the future of the newspaper.  "Newspapers have a great future.  But they will only survive - in print or online or any other channel - if they continue to meet and exceed the expectations of readers."

Sources: The Australian, The Age (here and here)