Via bliss that worldings can't understand,

A must-have for J-school students and those who are interested in news media of U.S.A. The State of the News Media 2005 is the 2nd annual report by the Project for Excellence in Journalism, an institute affiliated with Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. A veriety of mediaare covered: newspapers, magazines, network television, cable television, local television, the Internet, radio, ethnic and alternative media. Six areas in each of the media forms examined include content, audience trends, economics, ownership, newsroom investment and public attitudes. Also, an overview of methodology is present--you'll never find such transparency in a marketing report. The list of parters are pretty impressive: the Pew Charitable Trusts, Rick Edmonds, the University of Missouri School of Journalism, Michigan State University, the University of Alabama, and Princeton Survey Research Associates International.

Five major trends revealved in the report might be an appetizer.

1. There are now several models of journalism, and the trajectory increasingly is toward those that are faster, looser, and cheaper. The journalism of verification--to be or not to be?

2. The rise in partisanship of news consumption and the notion that people have retreated to their ideological corners for news has been widely exaggerated.

3. To adapt, journalism may have to move in the direction of making its work more transparent and more expert, and of widening the scope of its searchlight.

4. Despite the new demands, there is more evidence than ever that the mainstream media are investing only cautiously in building new audiences.

5. The three broadcast network news divisions face their most important moment of transition in decades.

You just can't miss it. And also its 2004 edition.