Interesting thoughts. As citizen reporting becomes more commonplace, I think the law will adapt. Despite the RIAA lawsuits, music file-sharing wasn’t slowed in the least. I see the same with reporting.
And I also see the AP and Reuters folding. Without subscribers, they cannot stay in business. They never have done that much original reporting, compared to what they re-use from their subscribers.
They have never been anything but a distribution system.
Well, clearly, *THAT* would be the seminal event in online news.
The current transition period would then be bracketed by Drudge/Lewinsky on one end and the collapse of AP/Reuters on the other.
But I don't see it happening!
Honestly, I would be less surprised to see a new Department of News and Speech in the Obama Administration before the AP/Reuters cabal disappears.