Today, we at the Berkman Center have released a new report on the changes in the news media landscape.  For several years, we have been puzzling over the relationship between online and legacy media, dating back to the first BloggerCons; Dave Winer’s setting up a blog server on the Harvard campus; the first series of podcasts; our Thursday blog group; the Bloggers Journalism and Credibility conference, at which Jay Rosen proclaimed that “bloggers v. journalism is over”; the rise of Global Voices, the Citizens Media Law Project, and so forth.  We release this report today against a much changed backdrop: major news outlets are failing or consolidating; more people than ever are engaged in participatory journalism; and the need for more credible and diverse sources of information — and skills to assess them — continues to be substantial. 

The Media Re:Public report is an update on where things stand, and where they are headed, at a precarious moment in the news and information business.   It takes the form of a primary report, several commentaries by Berkman fellows and friends, and a series of short case studies.  We had lots of help from lots of people, through two conferences, writing and resesarch projects, and commentary on multiple drafts. 

We owe deep thanks, as we so often do, to John Bracken and our friends at the MacArthur Foundation for their support and involvement in this reflective process and work.

As for the findings?  Well, please read it!  At a minimum, there’s the main report (52 pages, with a handy executive summary, by project lead Persephone Miel and Berkman’s research director Rob Faris).  Or Ethan Zuckerman’s inspiring and challenging piece on International News.  Or at the very least watch the teaser video on YouTube.