Journalism today

I've been away up in the Adirondacks for the past few days, so I've got some catching up to do. I did note that the ever-excellent Diane Rehm hosted a show earlier this week (on Tuesday) devoted to the state of journalism today. "Faster, looser, and cheaper," is how she describes it. "The rise of weblogs, distrust of mainstream media, and ... the culture of opinion" are among the issues she discusses with her guests. Joining her was Michael Getler, ombudsman for The Washington Post; Jay Rosen, author of PressThink and associate professor at the Department of Journalism, New York University; and last but not least, Tom Rosenstiel, director of the Project for Excellence in Journalism. The PEIJ has just released a major report, The State of the Media 2005, which acts as an important annual report card for the media.