Channels - Can/do newspapers hope ever again to be gatekeepers? - "As Studios Cut Budgets, Indie Filmmakers Go Do-It-Yourself" - NYTimes.com

Historically, newspapers stood between the portion of their customers responsible in some way for the content of tomorrow's newspaper and the people waiting to consume that paper. That is still the case for the classic printed newspaper. But the developments are clear all around that paper island -- showing that for better or worse more of the people on the input side want to be controlling the output as well.

Newspapers have much to learn from what is happening in other media, like film, and in other fields. We hope to discuss some of this at Managing the Crisis. Managers have critical decisions to make about whether to shift to a system that removes the barriers and provides only the means to publish, retain the historic approach, or creatively blend the two together.