Some traditional news organizations have been worried that native Internet companies such as Yahoo!, with their extensive public reach and large bankrolls, could be gradually replacing traditional media. But despite having launched a war reporting website, an online travel publication, several original financial columns, and most recently, a weekly advice column, Yahoo News General Manager Neil Budde said, "We're not in competition with content makers."

Instead, Budde said that Yahoo! is trying to fill the gaps left by the mainstream media and has no plans to establish news bureaus or undergo professional newsgathering operations.

During a speech at the Software and Information Association in New York, Budde outlined three important aspects of Internet news to which the mainstream media are having trouble adopting:

• "A la carte news" - instead of consumers being forced to purchase or watch their news in a fixed package edited by a news organization, the public can pick and choose what it wants to read, watch or listen to on the Internet.
• News aggregators - Internet giants such as Yahoo! and Google are not the only ones that sift through news content and bundle it. Bloggers that read the news also comment on and link to articles they read and gather a following normally through people with like interests.
• Advertising - According to Budde, "old media" will eventually warm up to the targeted advertising opportunities that the Internet provides as well as the ease and precision with which news organizations can determine readership online.

Budde continued by outlining Yahoo's plans for the future of its news site, of which he said "community editing," having readers decide what the most interesting articles are, could play in integral part.

Sources: MediaPost, AdAge