The hearing was prompted by the crisis facing traditional media outlets, especially newspapers and magazines, as advertisers and readers have migrated to the Web. Close to 9,000 layoffs and buyouts have occurred in 2009 alone at U.S. newspapers, according to .

But some see opportunities in the disruption of the news industry.

Journalist David Cohn, founder of community journalism website Spot.Us, believes that this is an exciting time for news media.

"I think what journalism needs is 10,000 different start-ups," .