FTC Soliciting Comments from Owners of Local Sites

From Town Crier to Bloggers:
How Will Journalism Survive the Internet Age?

AGENCY: Federal Trade Commission.

ACTION: Notice Announcing Public Workshops and Opportunity for Comment.

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SUMMARY: The Federal Trade Commission (``FTC'' or ``Commission'')
announces that it will hold two days of public workshops on December 1
and 2, 2009, to examine the Internet's impact on journalism in
newspapers, magazines, broadcast television and radio, and cable
television. The Internet has changed how many consumers receive news
and altered the advertising landscape. Low entry barriers on the
Internet have allowed new voices of journalism to emerge; the Internet-
enabled links from one web site to another have given consumers easy
access to all types of news; efficiencies available through the
Internet have substantially reduced advertising costs. These and other
changes related to the Internet have benefited consumers greatly.
At the same time, however, lower online advertising costs have
reduced advertising revenues to news organizations that rely on those
revenues for the majority of their funding. The explosion in the number
and types of web sites has increased the supply of advertising
locations. As that supply has increased, advertisers now pay less for
online advertising, and some advertising has moved from print,
television, or radio to online sites. In addition, most online news is
offered free, so online readers of news frequently do not contribute
subscription revenues to news media.
These developments are challenging the ability of news
organizations to fund journalism. The workshops will consider a wide
range of issues, including: (1) the economics of journalism on the
Internet and in more traditional media; (2) how the business models of
different types of news organizations may evolve in response to the
challenges associated with the Internet; (3) innovative forms of
journalism that have emerged on the Internet; (4) how competition may
evolve in markets for journalism and advertising; and (5) changes in
governmental policies that have been proposed as ways to support
journalism.
The Commission seeks the views of the news media and the legal,
academic, consumer, and business communities on the issues to be
explored at the hearings. This notice poses a series of questions on
which the Commission seeks comment.

DATES: The dates for the workshops are December 1 and 2, 2009. Comments
must be received by November 6, 2009, to be considered in preparing for
the workshops.

ADDRESSES: The workshops will be held at the FTC's Conference Center
located at 601 New Jersey Ave., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20001. Those who
plan to attend are encouraged to pre-register by sending an email to
(newsmediaworkshop@ftc.gov). This information will be used for planning
purposes only. Interested parties are invited to submit written
comments electronically or in paper form, by following the instructions
in the Instructions For Filing Comments part of the SUPPLEMENTARY
INFORMATION section below. Comments filed in electronic form should be
submitted by using the following weblink: (http://
public.commentworks.com/ftc/newsmediaworkshop) and following the
instructions on the web-based form. Comments in paper form should be
mailed or delivered to the following address: Federal Trade Commission,
Office of the Secretary, Room H-135 (Annex F), 600 Pennsylvania Avenue,
NW, Washington, DC 20580, in the manner detailed in the SUPPLEMENTARY
INFORMATION section below.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jessica Hoke, Office of Policy
Planning, FTC, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.,

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Washington, D.C. 20580; telephone (202) 326-3291; e-mail:
(newsmediaworkshop@ftc.gov). Detailed agendas for the workshops will be
made available at the workshop webpage, which will be accessible from
the FTC Home Page (http://www.ftc.gov).