“The horizon line for when a newspaper on the street is serving as a kind of brochure of a rich online product does not seem far off." - David Carr, The New York Times

Carr points to a trend by which "the locus of control has been shifting and consumers not only expect to customize their media experience, they demand it as a condition of engagement." This trend, he believes, will not detract from journalism, it will only serve to create a "deeper, more effective journalism," replete with real life experience, opinion, and facts that would otherwise remain undiscovered -- the type that can only be unearthed by an audience (and consequently contributor) pool as vast as that online.

"On Saturday, Mr. Stelter’s wonderful article in The New York Times on how people were working around the blackout on the Olympic ceremony began as a post on Twitter seeking consumer experiences, then jumped onto his blog, TV Decoder, caught the attention of editors who wanted it expanded for the newspaper and ended up on Page One, jammed with insight and with plenty of examples from real human experience. How much more powerful is that networked intelligence than a reporter with a phone, a Rolodex and the space between his or her ears?"

Locking up or delaying the release of content online (like NBC unsuccessfully attempted to do with its Olympics footage and the Inquirer is attempting to do with its best content) not only no longer works, it is also a bad business model. "If the future of our business is online, then why set up a firewall, delaying the best content to protect a legacy product? And more adept reporters are beginning to realize that the Web is not just a way to broadcast news, it is a great way to assemble it as well."