Abstract
The first economic tipping for traditional media hit in 2006 when newspaper revenues began to collapse. Leonard Downie Jr. (2009), vice president at large for the Washington Post, notes how most newspaper executives knew that the time would come when the Internet would begin stealing newspaper readers and revenues, but they didn't expect it to happen so quickly. That is the nature of a tipping point. In one year, according to Downie, they were at an economic high and adding personnel to their news staff, and the next year they were laying people off. How quickly the economic downturn occurred took them and many other newspapers by surprise. In 2005 newspapers achieved $49.4 billion in advertising revenues. By 2014 revenues had fallen about 60% to $19.9 billion (Pew, 2015). There is evidence that such a tipping point is about to hit local TV stations. These two tipping points could lead to the end of quality local news coverage. This chapter explores how newspapers and TV stations can survive and flourish in the Digital Age.