A Half Turn Round The Spiral

It's been six months since I put up my post on trust, transactions, and the risks to MSM bundling as a business model. The evidence of decay is accumulating.

In the wake of Eason Jordan's resignation after slandering U. S. armed forces, CNN suffers a 21% month-on-month viewing decline. The lack of internal diligence over the veracity of content is becoming ever more visible to the 'audience', and its nature is increasingly obvious. Those who really care about the outcome of Iraqi elections or Lebanon's struggle for freedom aren't using the MSM as primary information sources. The legacy media are being beat at their own game by amateurs on the ground.

Meanwhile, a leading light of the MSM asks: Can Papers End The Free Ride Online?. Meaning, can we get away with charging for content that is being exposed as often biased and inferior to what's available for free? As Doc says - for other reasons - "No". Nonetheless, some are putting up the pay walls. How to make sense of this: Chasing away audience at a time when there is a shortage of Internet ad inventory, and blogs are eyed as a venue to reach the dispersing audience?

The NYT article, read from a business point of view, is a classic case of a 'chasm'. A new medium, potentially profitable, but incapable of supporting the expense base of the legacy media. The MSM are poised on the brink. We're starting the sorting process of those media brands that will become party organs for the like minded, those that will risk their business and look to recreate value in an open content world, and those that will try to defend a dwindling branded empire until the end.

Update: See the discussion at Dan Gillmor's place.