"For more than two decades," writes David Zurawik of the Baltimore Sun, "Discussions of TV news have been dominated by a discourse of decline... But for all the talk of dinosaurs and audience erosion, major TV news programs - such as PBS' The NewsHour With Jim Lehrer and Tim Russert's "Meet the Press" on NBC - have found new life on computer screens, iPods and cell phones during the past year."

Network websites - offering podcasts and exclusive video - have not only sparked an increase in ad revenues, Zurawik says, they've also affected the way in which news is gathered and presented, resulting in "the kind of in-depth analysis and rich context that television news has long been accused of lacking."