The news industry is changing so quickly that it's almost impossible to predict where we'll end up. But a new global survey of more than 700 editors and senior news executives from 120 countries provides some interesting insights into what our newsrooms of the future might look like and how most readers will get their news.

The 2008 study, commissioned by the World Editors Forum and Reuters and conducted by Zogby International, showed that 44 percent of the respondents believe that in 10 years, the most common way of getting news will be online, followed by print (31 percent), mobile (12 percent) or an electronic newspaper (7 percent). Looking at it another way, nearly two-thirds of top editors believe that future readers will be getting their news in formats other than the printed page.

That's not entirely surprising. Circulation numbers at almost all newspapers are dropping — some at alarming volumes — and news Web sites are growing at a phenomenal rate. There's nothing to suggest that the trend will reverse.

What is shocking is that nearly six in 10 news executives think that the majority of print and online news will be free in the future and only one-third believe a paid model will still exist for most news products. Editors in Western Europe were less likely (48 percent) to believe that the free model was in the future, while those in South America, Eastern Europe, Russia, the Middle East and Asia (61 percent) were most likely to think we're heading toward free news. North American editors fell in the middle at 59 percent.

Call me a traditionalist, but when all news is given away — online news is already free nearly everywhere — then it devalues the product.

Knowing that online news is the future, nearly 90 percent of editors strongly or somewhat agree that most newsrooms within five years will be fully integrated between print and online duties. At The Advertiser and www.honoluluadvertiser.com, we aren't fully integrated but are close to getting there. Many journalists here shoot video, post news and photos around the clock, write blogs, develop specialty online sites and all contribute to the print newspaper.

The greatest threats to today's newspaper? Nearly six in 10 said they're declining readership among young people, followed by the emergence of the Internet and digital media (38 percent), the lack of editorial innovation (36 percent), the lack of investment in our industry (29 percent), free newspapers (13 percent), radio and TV (5 percent), or none of the above (6 percent).

Faithful readers of the Focus pages may be heartened to know that more than two-thirds of editors believe that newspapers should beef up opinion and analysis to attract readers. News executives from Eastern Europe (78 percent) and Western Europe (76 percent) more strongly believe this view than their North American (50 percent) counterparts.

"This large difference underlines a divergence in editors' perceptions of the function their newspapers will have in the future, whether these increasingly focus on constant breaking news or instead turn to more analytical, magazine-type content," the report says. "These results also reflect worries by American editors about having the proper resources to increase their opinion and analytical content."

Editors are also concerned about keeping the quality of news high. The survey showed that 45 percent thought the quality of journalism in the next decade would improve, 22 percent figured it would stay the same and 28 percent believed it would get worse.

Despite the headaches we all face in gathering and distributing the news, some 85 percent of us are very or somewhat optimistic about the future of the business. I have to agree. The obstacles are many but the importance of keeping readers informed — by whatever means — is paramount.

Mark Platte is senior vice president/editor of The Advertiser.

To read the entire report, go to www.trends-in-newsrooms.org/articles.php?id=20.