First, it is important to note that the distinction between an online and published news-source exists only in the real world. In cyberspace, everything arrives in packets of information. This is an era where the audience gravitates towards sources that need not be 'official', but experientially accurate nevertheless, like the moblogs from the Tibetan riots.
Second, the idea that an online channel cannot be monetised ignores the very real figures of online advertising. It seems that online media does have a business model: Lots of people are looking at my site, so pay me to put your logo here, and people will look at it, too. That is a casual example, but there are actually various means developed to measure online readership, some more complex then the subscription model used by newspapers.
And third, the concept of 'threat' necessarily implies a potential lost, which then implies that there is a finite resource in contention – for any media, that usually translates to eyeballs and advertising dollars. Of course, in the real world, we only have one pair of hands to flip one newspaper, but the concept of tab browsing different webpages at one time is the norm today. If anything, this practice has actually expanded the opportunities-per-viewer for advertisers.
So, the debate that is of greater value is not so much about who would stay victorious in getting the attention of the audience and the subsequent check from the advertiser. Rather, it is an issue of why online media, especially some long-running blogs, are still around, when all the financial odds seem stacked against them.
The answer could be attributed to technology, since online media has a much faster response rate than traditional print or broadcast. But the true reason, I would argue, is content – the ability to mean something to your reader and connect in a way that others cannot. It explains ‘followings’ for particular blogs and website, and the conscious effort of adding a weblink to your ‘favourites’ compared to having the dailies routinely dropped at your doorstep every morning.
Some might argue that this is merely niche interest, but I was born of the school that believes there is no such thing as ‘mass media’, anyway. N
