The quote is from Jay Rosen - who's published a useful round up of the current blogging about the future of news.
There are some interesting ideas here. I like this one. It's an idea I've been kicking about myself for about six months or so, so I want to see what comes of it.
One thing that struck me is the sense of loss out there about the demise of papers. What is it about that model of journalism that appeals to hacks so much? Is it something to do with working together for a common goal and being able to actually touch, see and smell the thing you've collectively created?
What would happen in a world of autonomous investigative journalists selling their skills to the community? I think that - at their best - newsrooms can be some of the most creative places in the world. Would journalism lose out, it if lost that collective workplace?
One last thought from Rosen about the job cuts: "It’s a terrible loss for the public when people who bought the public service dream lose their jobs providing that service, and realizing that dream."
That's an important point for me. Most journalists didn't go in for the job to tell lies and make money at any cost. And a few of us went into it with a stated notion of serving a public good. But - surprise, surprise - it turns out that private ownership and the public good are inimical. The journalists losing their jobs are the first to suffer; the rest of us will suffer a bit later on.