Legitimate, credible news, based on real journalism, is one of the critical pillars in the content pool that drives advertising-supported media regardless of how consumers access it.  The business of newspaper journalism is in freefall as we all know -- check out this wickedly funny and painfully true segment from The Onion News Network:http://www.theonion.com/video/boston-globe-tailors-print-edition-for-three-remai,17572/

Google has its own take on the situation:  A great piece by James Fallows in The Atlantic lays out Google’s counterintuitive desire to save real reporting and news, and the multiple ways they are attacking the problem.  A favorite quote:  “Nothing will work, but everything might.”  Check it out: http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/print/2010/04/how-to-save-the-news/8095/

Just this week, AOL announced its intention to hire “hundreds” of journalists to produce content for online consumption.   See the Ad Age article: http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=144334

-- Dick Hurrelbrink, news-content junkie, president of Compass Point Media