By Clark Hoyt
Washington bureau chief
Knight Ridder            

The future of news is secure. People will always want news of their communities, the nation and the world and will find ways to get it from many sources.

The future of today's newspaper organizations is not secure. It is up to us to make it so. The newsrooms we've built and nurtured and the values of fact-based truth-telling are under assault from many directions. Political leaders increasingly challenge our role in a democratic society and deny that we have any appropriate check-and-balance function on government. New technologies that should be our salvation will be our ruin if we don't embrace them and manage our transition to them properly. Our own shortcomings and failures to consistently live up to high ethical standards threaten our credibility.

I believe the most critical challenge we face is economic. As readers move from the ink-on-paper newspaper, where each one attracts $350 in revenue, to online, where each now brings in only $25, new models must be found to assure economically strong businesses that can support strong newsgathering organizations.

The late Ed Lahey, the first Washington bureau chief of Knight Newspapers, used to say that his only requirement of a publisher was that he -- and they were all "he" then -- be solvent.

Without economic strength in the converging world of ink and online, we’ll continue to live with relentless cost cutting that saps our ability to serve readers well, demoralizes staffs needed to help invent the future and can weaken our ability to fight the partisan assaults.

A strong news organization pays the legal bills needed to open records and fight government threats.  A weak one hesitates and avoids possibly costly conflicts.

A strong organization speaks the truth with confidence. A weak one fears giving offense.

A strong organization lives by the highest ethical values and principles of public service. A weak one may be tempted into cutting corners for short-term financial gain, even if the result is a long-term loss of credibility.

I have no doubt that this generation of journalists -- the best-educated ever -- has the motivation, values and smarts to adapt successfully to the rapidly changing world of news. But they'd to do more than that. They'll need to become full partners in figuring out the economic model, so that it isn't thrust upon them from outside the newsroom.