This week, the New York Times reported that several main writers at Gawker have left because of the decision last month to pay writers not based on how much they write, the quality of what they write, or how often they write – but rather on how many hits their blog posts get. Also in 2007, the popularity of celebrity gossip Web site TMZ became so successful that the Web site has evolved into a nightly TV show on the ever great Fox Network. In the same year gossip blogger Perez Hilton has become a quasi-celebrity himself and his site consistently stays in the top 1,000 trafficked sites on the Internet.

Just in time for the New Year, let’s all take a moment to welcome Yellow Journalism 2.0.

Let’s unpack that thought a bit…

Q: What do advertisers care most about?
A: A publications/websites’ readership/hits.

Q: What’s the quick and dirty way to get more readers?
A: Write sensational stories! Publish that story that will be the main topic at the water cooler.

Okay, maybe at this point we’re not quite there just yet, but just like how Hearst and Pulitzer drummed up newspaper circulation in the late nineteenth century by sensationalizing the news, it’s only a matter of time before a new dawn is upon us once traditional news organizations take notice of what’s getting the most hits.

Although tongue-in-cheek, in an article reported by The Onion earlier this year the most e-mailed story of the New York Times was an article titled “In Manhattan, Even Felines Have Therapists.” This was a cheeky piece, but a quick look at NYT shows that the most e-mailed story in the past 30 days is an op-ed piece about physical exercise does more good than all the expensive computer games and puzzles that are supposed to exercise your mind.

A model that may unintentionally help support this theory is the explosion of citizen media sites and more specifically the content they have been producing. Although there is a lot of merit and success in many of these initiatives (to the point where some Big-J institutions are upset that the little guy is taking their thunder – a whole other topic entirely; see article “Altruistic Journalism”) what is being seen more and more is content along the lines of “look at this cute picture of my cat!” rather than new ordinances or zoning issues within that community. Whereas it’s nice to see these communities share things like pictures of their cats with others in their communities, is this really helping the overall picture of journalism?

Another example is the Washington Post’s LoudounExtra (WaPo’s venture at a hyper-local site). Far and above their highest trafficked aspect of this expensive effort is “Living in LoCo” a blog by a Loudoun County resident who blogs about an array of topics including a lost dog found and new restaurants opening in the area.

Clearly, as the world of journalism continues to become more digital a new business model is necessary. The age-old practice of selling print ads simply is no longer a sustainable model. But does that make sensationalism the necessary solution? What is the next business model?