A change agent talks about media change

The Christian Science Monitor, which was one of the first newspapers to dramatically remake itself decades ago, says in a headline, "Online media is replacing newspapers and TV. Is that a bad thing?" Great question, and excellent long-form look at the topic of the last few years.

Years ago, the Monitor was a good daily, print newspaper noted for its solid reporting. It was established by the Christian Science church, but never was seen as a religious newspaper. As its circulation dropped, the Monitor dropped its daily print edition, going online with a weekly print. At the same time, it shifted its emphasis from news to explanatory articles.

Given this history of making changes necessary to stay in existence, the Monitor itself is what media needs to do to survive today. The article on new media shows that online-only doesn't necessarily mean shallow or short journalism.