You Now Can't Say "Facebook" Or "Twitter" On French TV

In five years' time, it would not surprise me to hear a television news presenter saying something like "And now, to summarise the news we have been breaking and following online on our news feeds ..."

TV news will essentially become the backwater of news coverage, as most of what we'd call journalism will shift primarily to an online form.

I'll expect some old dinosaurs, desperate to hang on to their fading sovereignty, who will strive to break the news on broadcast TV rather than on Twitter and then Facebook, in that order - but that will be a minority, and that attitude will probably have become all but extinct within twenty years.

The kids have it nailed already. If you want the news, you go online to get it. You don't wait till 18:00 or 23:00 when you get home. If it's happening now, you'll want to know about it there and then, on your Android, BlackBerry or iPhone. Just wait till they're old enough to have kids of their own ...