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It's all too easy to say, "Let the dinosaur mainstream media die, because the Internet will save us all..." especially on a Web site like this one.
But the unfortunate fact is that here, we're the choir preaching to each other.
Those of us reading here live in an information-rich world, and I suspect that most of us have the intelligence and wit to tell the difference between the crapola and the chocolate.
But there aren't that many of us.
According to a 2007 report from the Pew Research Center For the People and the Press -- as reliable a source as can be found for subjects like this -- 71% of the American public still regularly get their news from local TV, 54% from a local daily paper, 46% from network evening newscasts, and only 25% from Internet sources like Google, Yahoo, etc.
You can read the report summary for yourself, here:
http://people-press.org/reports/display.php3?ReportID=319
I think the conclusion is inescapable that Copps is right on target. Mainstream media still have enormous power, and it behooves us all to continue to do everything we can to halt -- and even reverse -- consolidation.
