This WSU Newsline Podcast is available at http://www.wichita.edu/newslinepodcast. See the transcript below:

You're listening to the podcast edition of the Wichita State University audio newsline. Learn more about WSU — the home of Thinkers, Doers, Movers and Shockers — on the Web at wichita.edu.

Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and other social media are having a dramatic impact on the way people get information. Online newspaper readership is growing, but revenues are declining. Lou Heldman, a communications strategist at Wichita State University and former publisher of The Wichita Eagle and Kansas.com, puts these dramatic changes in context.

Heldman: "We're seeing the most dramatic shift in journalism since the invention of the printing press. I think Benjamin Franklin would be fascinated to see what's happened since he used to publish his paper in Philadelphia." 

It's hardly insignificant that, in the past two years alone, such newspapers as Rocky Mountain News, Baltimore Examiner, Cincinnati Post and Albuquerque Tribune have closed. Meanwhile, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Detroit Free Press and Christian Science Monitor are among the former print dailies that have adapted hybrid online/print or online-only models.

Heldman: "We're in the very earliest stage of the digital revolution. Think of this as 1777. We don't know what kind of country we're going to have. We only know it's going to be different than what we had before." 

Clearly, journalism and communication in general have been affected by social media, as Heldman explains. 

Heldman: "Social media is being integrated into every aspect of human communication. Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, LinkedIn are entering into the mainstream of discussion in America.

"With social networking we've gone from freedom of the press for those who own one to freedom of the press for everyone. We're seeing that played out right now in the streets of Iran." 

If you're having trouble keeping up in this information age, you're not alone.

Heldman: "We've entered the age of continuous partial attention, because it's so hard to keep up with every bit of information coming at us. We strive all day long just to run in place." 

When it comes to breaking news, some say that social media, such as Twitter, leads the pack these days. But how reliable is the information being shared? Heldman admits that it will be a challenge knowing whom to trust. 

Heldman: "In a world with millions of sources of information, the hardest thing will be to decide whom to trust. The journalism of verification has given people a certain comfort level that information was checked out by professionals. Now it's every person for themselves." 

U.S. newspapers are losing circulation faster than ever, compounding the pain of an industry reeling from even larger drops in the advertising revenue that pays most of the bills. It's the most severe downturn since newspaper circulation began to crumble in the early 1990s. The success of newspapers on the Internet only serves to highlight the accelerating collapse of the industry. And the big increases in Web traffic simply are not translating into increased online revenues.

Heldman: "The challenge for newspapers is to find a business model. People still want the information that newspapers provide, but now they're getting it for free on the Web. So, who's going to pay for it?"

And for all of the changes we've experienced in recent years, Heldman says there's more to come. 

Heldman: "The communications revolution is going mobile. The most important tool will be the smart phone you carry in your pocket, both for receiving and sending information to the world."

For all of the challenges facing newspapers, it's also unclear how social media can turn a profit so it can continue to flourish. Robert Brown, president of RDB Consulting Firm Inc., said, "Social media is a good example of the symbiosis of technology and culture. It's as if the long heralded information revolution has finally reached the streets, and now everyone is a citizen in this revolution."

Then Brown said, "As a journalist, I believe that there is never too much information or communication. I think that, in the long-term, the rise of social media will have a positive effect on our world and its citizens. At any rate, it's going to be interesting."

Thanks for listening. Until next time, this is Joe Kleinsasser for Wichita State University.