CS: I think they will continue to exist, but there might just be fewer. It just may be the very best will remain in print, and many others will move entirely online. But journalists aren’t going to go away. The pipeline for information is bigger than ever, and we really need gatekeepers to help us analyze content, and edit it, and give readers a road map for where to go to get the best information.

MM: Why is it important that they survive?

CS: Well, I’m obviously biased. I think that there’s something wonderful about the physical feel and smell of a newspaper. I think it’s easier to read a newspaper, since you can skim and look horizontally across all the pages and come back to things easily. In terms of utility, it’s definitely easier. But some people prefer the Web. So I think we need become more like information companies that publish around the clock on a variety of platforms. I think newspapers will eventually become niche products, edited for those people who want to read a specific thing. They’ll be smaller, and published less frequently. But they’ll be full of analysis and contextual reporting and will be a perfect complement to the Web. I think they will exist and people will pay more money than they do now for them.

MM: Is it more important to find ways to sustain public-service journalism regardless of where it is done and by whom, than to devote all of our energies to keeping traditional newspapers alive?

CS: I think that would be shortsighted. As my colleague Steve Smith told the Knight Digital Media Center, we need to focus on preserving journalism and its values, not just newspapers. I agree with that to a point, because I think it’s important to sustain civic journalism. It’s the foundation of what we do. But as I said before, my point is that we need to be globally aware. We need to understand the business pressures and work with them and influence the conditions when we can. We have to care, because if there’s no platform of any kind, then what good is the work that we do?

MM: What’s next for you?

CS: I’m a journalist. I just don’t know what my next job will be. That’s the exciting part, though. I’m comfortable with my decision and I’m looking forward to advancing. It’s sort of a second chance to do something else. But I don’t have any plans yet—check with me in six months! Right now I’m just ready to sit and be thoughtful, to think of what I might do, of what I could do.

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