????2012年既是一個備受爭議的總統大選年，又是一個奧運年，我們還在這一年中目睹了一個又一個的悲劇。你或許認為，美國媒體肯定在2012年斬獲頗豐，但事實并非如此。媒體世界現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的商業模式。但這并不意味著在過去一年中，媒體業并未展現出一絲生機，并未出現給人以啟迪的時刻。那么，我們能從2012年獲得哪些教益呢？

????封面出位、內容收費還不夠

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

????甚至連最受尊崇的媒體機構去年也未能交出一張及格的成績單?！都~約時報》（The New York Times）12月份宣布裁減編輯團隊。電視新聞的收視率繼續呈下降趨勢?！度A爾街日報》（The Wall Street Journal）則被“釜底抽薪”：其母公司新聞集團（News Corp.）宣布該集團將重組為兩部分：一部分經營包括?？怂剐侣劸W（Fox News）在內的娛樂資產，另一部分則經營包括《華爾街日報》在內的印刷出版資產。

????與此同時，各大出版機構合縱連橫的趨勢依然在繼續。最新一個案例是，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）或將與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。

????廣告商繼續在網絡、社交媒體和視頻平臺上追逐日益分散化的觀眾。顯然，傳統媒體需要改變，但另一個同樣越來越明顯的事實是，僅僅豎立起一道付費墻，就宣告任務完成，這是不夠的。

????科技公司進一步染指媒體領域

????YouTube、Twitter和Tumblr等科技類公司之所以能夠成長起來，同時受到普遍歡迎，部分原因在于這些公司提供了一個開放性平臺：任何人可以在這些平臺上發布任何內容。這一點并不會改變，但公民新聞已不再是這些網站的主角?？萍脊緜冋谶M行一次逆向工程試驗：它們現在開始雇傭職業記者為自己龐大的用戶群編輯、策劃和創造內容。2月份，Tumblr朝這個方向邁出了一步——該公司開始雇傭自己的編輯團隊。作為2011年啟動的一項計劃的組成部分，商務社交網站LinkedIn繼續聚合并打造原創內容。亞馬遜已經在從事出版和電影制作業務。Twitter正在嘗試類似于媒體的產品，比如其“目標網頁”就包含了經策劃過的內容。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制作內容的頻道數量翻一番，擴充的內容包括一個ESPN頻道，以及一個播放邁克爾·塞拉和薩拉·西爾弗曼喜劇節目的頻道。

????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.