Ted Shelton posted an interesting read on his blog today. He is responding to a 12/18/08 post by David Byrne, (yes; that David Byrne), regarding the “failure” of traditional print journalism to successfully navigate new media waters leading to a threat to our democracy. I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately. As a professor of advertising in a school of Journalism, it’s clear that social media in particular has disrupted traditional mass media channels. The basic business model of newspapers is under great stress and I’m not convinced that print news organizations have found a better model ATM.

However, Ted sees “the strength of our democracy as being the force which will lead to a new journalism and a new business of news.” That’s a powerful thought and one that I’d like to carry back to my classes as school resumes.