I think Steven Johnson gets the direction the news is going right: we think we're losing important stuff, but - in fact - we're gaining a lot:

In fact, I think in the long run, we're going to look back at many facets of old media and realize that we were living in a desert disguised as a rain forest. Local news may be the best example of this. When people talk about the civic damage that a community suffers by losing its newspaper, one of the key things that people point to is the loss of local news coverage. But I suspect in ten years, when we look back at traditional local coverage, it will look much more like MacWorld circa 1987. I adore the City section of the New York Times, but every Sunday when I pick it up, there are only three or four stories in the whole section that I find interesting or relevant to my life --out of probably twenty stories total. And yet every week in my neighborhood there are easily twenty stories that I would be interested in reading: a mugging three blocks from my house; a new deli opening; a house sale; the baseball team at my kid's school winning a big game.

Consider the technology niche I deal with: Smalltalk. Back in the 90's, there was a monthly print journal, "The Smalltalk Report". When it folded, there was much lamentation, but stop and compare what we had back "in the glory days" to what we have now.

Then: One monthly journal with a handful of articles

Now: A plethora of blogs and websites that produce regular content, including podcasts and videos

That's happening across the board, in every field you can think of. The future won't be one of paltry content and no good reporting; it will be one of more content than you can imagine, covering a multitude of niches in ways that we can barely imagine.