Journalism all Tanked Up

The reinvention of journalism in the digital age is happening, let there be no mistake about that. Yet, despite the promise of crowdsourcing, hyperlocals and even the Huffington Poacher, it's not as if anyone has figured out how to make newspaper reporting as we know it economically viable on the web. Hence the unending stream of buyouts, closures of foreign bureaus and elimination of news beats. I recognize that the old print edifice is decayed and anachronistic. Yes, we waited too long to replace it. So now that it is collapsing, does this mean journalism as we know it is disappearing? Well, for some fields, this appears to be the case, as a recent discussion on the state of science journalism indicates. But some fields are also finding welcome mats laid out at other edifices, such as those provided by think tanks. I find this intriguing, though hardly ideal. But if professional journalistic standards can be transferred over, then perhaps think tanks can help ease the print to digital transition.