A novice's attempt to read journalism's palm

The interns are being featured in one of the company's publications, so we had to write a couple paragraphs about the "future of journalism." So, here's my forecast. I only call 'em as I see 'em:

This is an extremely exciting time to be a journalist. I know you’re thinking, “Is she crazy?!” Maybe. But fresh out of college and brimming with new ideas, I can’t think of another environment I would rather be thrown into. The challenges that this profession currently is confronted with allow journalists to come together, pool their knowledge and completely renovate the entire face of print journalism itself. It will take the combined wisdom and innovation of every reporter, copy editor, sales rep, accountant, publisher and CEO to find solutions to the problems faced by newspapers today. The key to saving newspapers is cooperation.

The newspaper is not headed for disaster, though many people are quick to condemn it. Newspapers have been around since ancient Rome when the news was chiseled into stone tablets. Since then, metal, silk and, finally, paper have served as mediums for the distribution of news. Now, it’s time for the news to choose a new medium: the Internet. While I once swore that the print newspaper would be around forever, I am beginning to embrace the fact that the newspaper is changing. No longer is it profitable or efficient to provide a print product. With the prices of gas and newsprint rising exponentially and advertising revenue decreasing due to an economic downturn, it is no coincidence that huge advances are being made in online journalism at the exact same time. An online news product is the future of journalism, and so many doors will be opened that journalists won’t know where to begin.

I currently don’t have the answers to lowering expenses or raising ad revenue, but I have confidence that the problems will be solved sooner rather than later. There are so many innovations in online journalism waiting just around the corner. In the near future, technology will permit newspapers to take demographic information from online subscribers and allow each subscriber to create his or her own individual, unique news product. And being able to target a specific market is an advertiser’s dream, so advertising will start picking up and so on. An online product has the ability to become the local information hub of any area. We have all of the building blocks to make it happen, but they’re scattered around the globe. Our job right now is to figure out how to put them all together to create the new face of journalism.