Despite the current financial struggles of "old media," John Carroll, former editor of the Lexington Herald-Leader and the Los Angeles Times, believes newspapers and other "old media" should unite with bloggers and other "new media" to "keep each other honest and provide the kind of public service journalism a republic needs to survive."

Although Carroll believes that quality investigative reporting will continue, he sees non-profit websites and Internet publications taking over some of that responsibility from newspapers.

Carroll also hopes that new media will continue to grow, and like the old media, "stand up decisively to the government and other institutions," which may lead to the "golden age of journalism."

He isn't ecstatic about corporate ownership of the media - he believes that most corporate executives "print a lot of trash" in "giving the public what [the corporate executives] believe they want." But he praises some corporate takeovers, citing Rupert Murdoch sustaining "high level" journalism at The Wall Street Journal, which was "faltering," according to Carroll.

"There will be journalism in the future and it will have tools unlike any the people of my generation commanded," he said.

Source: Herald-Leader