A leading French hack, who focuses on internet journalism, warns classical journalism is facing a crisis, as the great unwashed turn to the internet for information.

Jean-Francois Fogel worked with a number of renowned publications, including Liberation, Le Monde, Le Point and AFP, and recently published a book titled "Une presse sans Gutenberg" (A press without Gutenberg), which deals with the impact of digital technologies on journalism.

“Journalists have lost the silent, at times admiring, audience wishing to trust in whatever they say. The modern reception of the press is a suspicious one," said Fogel.  "The audience prefers to look for information on its own, using websites and tools on the internet to build up its own vision of what should be the news of the day.”

He believes the press of the future will be "a different one", with more diverse media and an increased presence of the audience. Swift reader feedback and direct comments on news articles are changing the way journalists do their job, and Fogel believes classical media will have to adapt to keep up.

He also sees the drop in newspaper circulation and diminishing income in traditional publishing as a crisis, as advertisers are simply following readers and cashing out for online ads rather than newspaper ads.

More here.