An interesting article by media analyst Tom Foremski who is concerned that "we are losing our media professionals." Foremski asserts that "we need professional journalists ... so that we can ensure a high degree of accuracy in the content of our media."

For Foremski, a high quality media is so important because the "media is the way society 'thinks'."

The author blames the decline in the numbers of professional journalists on internet media organisations such a Google and Yahoo. The main problem is advertising which he says has almost entirely been taken over by Google and its counterparts.

The loss of advertising revenue is a big problem for traditional media organisatuions: "The trouble is that the new media companies are growing wealthy on the money that used to pay for large teams of media professionals online and in newspapers … As the professional media class shrinks, it undermines the overall quality of our media."

Forezmski acknowledges that bloggers have filled some of the void left by departed profesional journalists. But he points out that most bloggers have 'day jobs' and write in their spare time. They thus do not provide the same day by day, hour by hour news coverage service that media professionals do: "Bloggers don't have to create content every day. Journalists do it every day."

On the subject of blogging, Foremski concludes that: "Citizen journalism does have an important place in the mediasphere but it cannot replace our need for professional journalists."

The author concludes with the burning question: "what happens if the old media dies before the new media learns to walk?"

Source: ZDNet Blogs: Tom Foremski