????2012年既是一個(gè)備受爭議的總統(tǒng)大選年，又是一個(gè)奧運(yùn)年，我們還在這一年中目睹了一個(gè)又一個(gè)的悲劇。你或許認(rèn)為，美國媒體肯定在2012年斬獲頗豐，但事實(shí)并非如此。媒體世界現(xiàn)在的境遇并不比一年前好多少，他們依然在苦苦追尋一種可持續(xù)的商業(yè)模式。但這并不意味著在過去一年中，媒體業(yè)并未展現(xiàn)出一絲生機(jī)，并未出現(xiàn)給人以啟迪的時(shí)刻。那么，我們能從2012年獲得哪些教益呢？

????封面出位、內(nèi)容收費(fèi)還不夠

????去年倒下的知名媒體包括：《新聞周刊》（Newsweek）和新奧爾良的《時(shí)代花絮報(bào)》（The Times-Picayune）。前者的印刷版壽終正寢，后者則不再每日發(fā)行。就連被視為報(bào)紙守護(hù)神的沃倫·巴菲特也售出了旗下一家報(bào)社的股權(quán)。

????甚至連最受尊崇的媒體機(jī)構(gòu)去年也未能交出一張及格的成績單?！都~約時(shí)報(bào)》（The New York Times）12月份宣布裁減編輯團(tuán)隊(duì)。電視新聞的收視率繼續(xù)呈下降趨勢?！度A爾街日報(bào)》（The Wall Street Journal）則被“釜底抽薪”：其母公司新聞集團(tuán)（News Corp.）宣布該集團(tuán)將重組為兩部分：一部分經(jīng)營包括福克斯新聞網(wǎng)（Fox News）在內(nèi)的娛樂資產(chǎn)，另一部分則經(jīng)營包括《華爾街日報(bào)》在內(nèi)的印刷出版資產(chǎn)。

????與此同時(shí)，各大出版機(jī)構(gòu)合縱連橫的趨勢依然在繼續(xù)。最新一個(gè)案例是，蘭登書屋（Random House）和企鵝出版社（Penguin）于10月份宣布合并。近來有傳言稱，哈珀柯林斯出版社（HarperCollins）或?qū)⑴c西蒙舒斯特出版公司（Simon & Schuster）合并，所有這些努力都是為了抵御亞馬遜公司（Amazon）的咄咄逼人的攻勢。

????廣告商繼續(xù)在網(wǎng)絡(luò)、社交媒體和視頻平臺上追逐日益分散化的觀眾。顯然，傳統(tǒng)媒體需要改變，但另一個(gè)同樣越來越明顯的事實(shí)是，僅僅豎立起一道付費(fèi)墻，就宣告任務(wù)完成，這是不夠的。

????科技公司進(jìn)一步染指媒體領(lǐng)域

????YouTube、Twitter和Tumblr等科技類公司之所以能夠成長起來，同時(shí)受到普遍歡迎，部分原因在于這些公司提供了一個(gè)開放性平臺：任何人可以在這些平臺上發(fā)布任何內(nèi)容。這一點(diǎn)并不會改變，但公民新聞已不再是這些網(wǎng)站的主角?？萍脊緜冋谶M(jìn)行一次逆向工程試驗(yàn)：它們現(xiàn)在開始雇傭職業(yè)記者為自己龐大的用戶群編輯、策劃和創(chuàng)造內(nèi)容。2月份，Tumblr朝這個(gè)方向邁出了一步——該公司開始雇傭自己的編輯團(tuán)隊(duì)。作為2011年啟動(dòng)的一項(xiàng)計(jì)劃的組成部分，商務(wù)社交網(wǎng)站LinkedIn繼續(xù)聚合并打造原創(chuàng)內(nèi)容。亞馬遜已經(jīng)在從事出版和電影制作業(yè)務(wù)。Twitter正在嘗試類似于媒體的產(chǎn)品，比如其“目標(biāo)網(wǎng)頁”就包含了經(jīng)策劃過的內(nèi)容。為了成為明日的電視，YouTube去年10月份宣布，該公司將把播放專業(yè)制作內(nèi)容的頻道數(shù)量翻一番，擴(kuò)充的內(nèi)容包括一個(gè)ESPN頻道，以及一個(gè)播放邁克爾·塞拉和薩拉·西爾弗曼喜劇節(jié)目的頻道。

????In a year with a highly contentious presidential election, the Olympics, and tragedy, after tragedy, after tragedy, you'd think 2012 would have been a banner year for American media. Not so. The media world is on no firmer ground than it was a year ago as it continues its quest for a sustainable business model. But that doesn't mean the industry lacked for signs of life or teachable moments in the past year. What have we learned in 2012?

????Provocative covers and paywalls are not enough

????Among the carnage this year:?Newsweek?ended its print operations.?The Times-Picayune?in New Orleans stopped daily delivery, and even Warren Buffett, patron saint of newspapers, shuttered one of his holdings.

????Even the media's most venerable institutions didn't get a pass this year.?The New York Times (NYT)?announced newsroom reductions in December. TV news network viewership continued its downward trend. And?The Wall Street Journal?effectively had the rug pulled out from under it when parent company News Corp. (NWS) announced it was restructuring itself into two operations: one with entertainment properties (Fox News included) and the other with its print publication properties (WSJ included).

????Meanwhile, the big publishing houses continued their march towards consolidation -- most recently, Random House and Penguin announced a merger in October, and rumors have circulated over a potential HarperCollins-Simon & Schuster pairing -- all in an effort to give Amazon (AMZN) a run for its money.

????As advertisers continue to chase splintering audiences to online, social, and video platforms, it's clear that traditional media is in need of change, but it's also becoming obvious that putting up a paywall and calling it a day isn't enough.

????Tech dips another toe into the media pool

????The likes of YouTube, Twitter, and Tumblr all grew and gained popularity in part because they were open to content from anyone. That's not going to change, but citizen journalism is no longer the starring act it once was at these sites. In an experiment of reverse engineering, tech companies are now hiring professional journalists to edit, curate, and create content for their massive user bases. Tumblr took a step in this direction in February when it hired its own editors, while LinkedIn (LNKD) continued to aggregate and build out original content as part of an effort it launched in 2011. Amazon is already in the publishing and movie production business. Twitter is flirting with media-like products, like "destination pages" with curated content. And in an effort to become tomorrow's TV, YouTube announced in October that it's doubling down on professionally produced channels: among the expanded offerings, an ESPN channel and a comedy channel with Michael Cera and Sarah Silverman.