Update June 8:

In today's San Francisco Chronicle there's an op-ed from Dan Gillmor of the Center for Citizen Media headlined "Journalism Isn't Dying, It's Reviving". He wrote it partially as a response to Neil Henry's earlier op-ed, which is discussed below. An excerpt from Gillmor's op-ed:

... If the issue is the future of journalism -- as opposed to corporate business models -- there's at least as much reason for optimism as paranoia. The same technologies that are disrupting the news industry are offering unprecedented opportunities for creating a more diverse, and ultimately more vibrant, journalistic ecosystem.

Neil Henry's op-ed really raised some bloggers' hackles -- it just took a few days.

In May, Henry wrote that Google, Yahoo and other massive online corporations are benefitting from the work of newspapers, and that the corporations should do more to (financially) support the journalism from which they benefit.

In the first day or two after Henry's op-ed appeared, I thought the piece hadn't gained much traction or attention because not too many people were writing about it. (I did a short roundup here a few days ago.) 

Ah, the calm before the storm. It turned out a lot of bloggers just waited (and stewed and steamed) a few days before releasing their frustration.  

So here's a quick update:

Howard Owens wrote this week, "If journalism dies, it won’t be because of Google or Yahoo!, or even craigslist, it will be because of people like Neil Henry — members of the cranky old journalist brigade who whine about the state of online affairs while insisting on remaining blithely ignorant of what’s really going on online."

Scott Karp was a little gentler. "[Henry] puts forth some good examples of the types of investigative journalism that are at risk of being defunded. He also displays a fundamental misunderstanding of what is responsible for the collapse of the newspaper business, which has in turn resulted in a decline in the subsidization of journalism. But he does raise an interesting question about whether Google and other online companies should start subsidizing journalism, which I found intriguing, once you get past all the misunderstandings."

Rosen, in a Huffington Post entry, wrote, "My impression: we're at the twilight of the curmudgeon class in newsrooms and J-schools. (Though they can still do a lot of damage). You know they're giving up when they no longer bother to inform themselves about what they themselves say is happening." Rosen also includes a really good roundup post of some other bloggers' views and there are plenty of intelligent comments to his post.

Here's my thing: I'm glad Henry wrote the op-ed, and I'm glad the Chronicle ran it.

The benefit of hearing a view you may not agree with is that it can force you to analyze your own arguments -- and self-analysis is the best way to strengthen those arguments and prepare for the next round of debate.