In 2004, during a Presidential News Conference, a reporter asked President George Bush this question: “Is it really true you don?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t read us, don?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t even watch the news?” And the president replied affirmatively that he doesn’t pay attention to the nightly news. Following up to the answer the reporter asked: “Well, how do you then know, Mr. President, what the public is thinking?” And without as much as waiting for a breath, the president answered, ” You?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢re making a powerful assumption, young man. You?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢re assuming that you represent the public. I don?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t accept that.”

It’s been two years and a few months since that exchange and with all of the social media tools and the fragmentation of the traditional sources of news, I’m beginning to wonder if the President made an astute observation about the current state of the media. Does traditional media still represent a vast majority of the public? When I worked in the broadcast news media, we used to carry our banner high and proudly proclaim our responsibility to serve as a quasi-governmental checks-and-balance on the traditional branches of government. Journalism, the Fourth Estate, protecting the interests of the people.

I’m not so sure that is true today. Traditional media is losing its power to say it represents everyone. Sure, people still tune into newscasts, albeit a smaller population, yet a large number of people think The Daily Show is an actual news program. Fewer people read newspapers. YouTube, Technorati, Digg and a host of other tools allow people to tune into what they think is news. The news anchorman of Ron Burgundy’s day is pass?ɬ©. There are countless other ways for a message to filter down to the masses. Which makes it more difficult – broadcasting is such a ‘broad’ sweep – however, the target audiences crave personalized communication from their leaders and others.

Where does that leave journalism and public relations? Struggling. While many PR people are tuned into Web 2.0 (PR 2.0) tools, the old ways are so comfortable that it is difficult to shed the old skin. However, slowly things are changing. The traditional news release has become a blog post, becoming undistinguishable from any other news story on the web. PR practitioners are reaching their audiences directly and bypassing the traditional forms of media delivery. And with that comes new territory, new challenges and new ethical questions. Journalists are feeling the pinch too. Their power to shape issues or challenge leaders has been supplanted by citizen journalists able to cut to the chase or post their stories quicker, and with often far-reaching results. The people are asking the questions and the checks-and-balances sword is being carried by average citizens with their own blogs and podcasts.

I expect many changes will take place this year, especially as more traditional practitioners join the ever-growing list of PR bloggers currently thinking out loud about the future of PR, media and communication. Will traditional media continue to matter? Possibily, but my guess is the fragmentation will continue to erode the traditional media’s hold on the message, opening up new ways for communicators to reach the masses.