"Journalism" professionals STILL can not Identify their competition.
If you have an automotive engineer who writes an insightful three page description of an engine his team is developing every three years, that used to not be a problem. Even though it was just as well written as someone with a journalism or English degree might write.
It was one article every three years that only the man's friends were likely to see. If they shared it, well a few xerox copies mailed around still don't reach that many people even if it pyramids out seven times and by the time the last group gets it it will be a month later if they were being mailed.
Fast foreword to now.
There are thousands of engineers. Every 1095 of them writing once every three years equal one story a day. Written, generally, for free. As in costs no money. As in they are writing for their own vanity.
And on the web, writing in interest forums, or having those forums available as a place their friends might send the article - it will be seen.
Extend this out to other interests, because it carries over across the board.
Journalists keep looking at the picture trying to figure out how content producers are going to be paid in the new media.
The stopper is that they have to compete with people who write about any given subject as well or better than they possibly can WHO DON'T EXPECT TO BE PAID.
When the internet arrived and provided a means for people to disseminate their writings, this became inevitable. I saw it, Drudge saw it, hundreds and hundreds of people saw and have been discussing it for over a decade.
The dinosaur media is late to the party.
