News editors tickled by new technology but ask, ‘Where’s the money?’

News editors see new tools but little cash on Web

WASHINGTON — The people in charge of putting out the news are thrilled that technology is giving them new tools for their craft. But the people who run the news business are still searching for ways to slow the erosion of revenue that threatens many media companies.

That was the message that came across at the American Society of News Editors annual conference Wednesday.

To cap four days of sessions on everything from e-readers to nonprofit news groups, the organization had a panel of media executives who tried to answer the question, “Where do we go from here?” The group noted that even as the Web upends the business models newspapers used to rely on, it has opened up new possibilities for getting content to readers.