…as if my mind is an open book I stumble on this:

As wealthier, more news-focused audiences leave mainstream outlets, those outlets will be forced to reach out to different groups to fill the holes in their audience - groups that probably have lighter definitions of news. In other words, a small group of coverage-rich news media will get richer while the rest get poorer in their content.

Is that good or bad? Both, probably. But good or bad, if we drift down that road, it will mean a different kind of democracy and a different society.

Just think, there may come a day not too long from now when Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes’s baby not only finds time on the network news - as baby Suri did last week on CBS - but leads the newscast. The good news is you won’t have to watch it. The bad news is a lot of others will tune in and possibly find little else. (The Economist effect: Not all news media are dumbing it down)

I seem to notice that the waters are rising up the sides of my little ivory tower. Anyone have a life raft?