Future news markets, or the "New News Organisation," will be made up of hyperlocal, local news networks and publicly supported journalism, Jeff Jarvis and Steve Shepard, of the City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism, told the Aspen Institute's Forum on Communication and Society earlier this year.

Judy Sims, who most recently worked as the Toronto Star Media Group's vice president of digital media, agrees, pointing out that "it's local newspapers that are best positioned" to form the New News Organisation.

"Why? Two words: local advertisers. For small businesses, advertising is, was and always will be about return on investment. If the cash register doesn't ring, the model won't work. And metro newspapers know, understand and are trusted by local advertisers more than anyone else in their markets. For now anyway," Sims wrote in an article for paidContent today.

She recommends newspapers take four steps to ensure their position as the New News Organisation, and warns that if they don't, others will. Newspaper executives often fall back on the same arguments to keep running their businesses in the same, or slightly altered way, she writes in her blog, and if they continue to do so, they won't become the New News Organisation.

The Wall Street Journal's Daniel Akst gave an example today of one newspaper positioned to become the New News Organisation. The Hudson, New York-based Register-Star is holding on through tough times by controlling costs and producing great local coverage, he reported.

The Register-Star is owned by the Hudson-Catskill Newspaper Group, which finished in the black last year. Although the company is not immune to the tough economic times and is facing money problems, "being private, small and local can help," Akst states.