This does not count for much now because newspaper websites don’t earn the advertising revenues that print does and won’t support the huge news staffs big city papers have always employed. The industry is scrambling to find a formula whereby they can generate the same money on-line as they did in print. This is going to usher in more, not less, newspapers on-line. I think what will happen is papers like the New York Times will shrink in size and power to the point where many entrepreneurs who could never afford to build a newspaper plant will be able to compete on-line. They will have to create a news and advertising staff but they won’t have to buy a printing press and other costly production equipment or fleets of trucks for circulation.
I believe the internet is the greatest event in mass communication since the invention of movable type.
And I believe you are correct, and at least as smart as Al Gore. Probably much more though, if you are here.