The Pew Research Center's State of the News Media 2010 report suggests that newspapers and other journalistic organizations are losing the race to find new revenue models to support news reporting. Newspapers, radio, local and network television, magazines, and online ad revenues all declined in 2009; only cable - largely thanks to Fox News - held its own.

Pew is pessimistic that online ads or paywalls are the answer. It found that 79% of online users said that they rarely or never click on online ads and only 19% would pay to visit their favorite site. New media models, such as non-profit news starts-ups, are not picking up the slack in revenues or reporting. Non-profits have invested a total of $141 million in new media efforts since 2006; newspapers have had to cut their annual newsroom budgets by $1.6 billion since 2000.