Amid declining circulations, dwindling revenues and a lower barrier of entry for smaller and more-varied competitors, journalism faces a distressing, uncertain and, simultaneously, exciting future.

This was the consensus during the annual meeting of the Knight Chairs in Journalism, held earlier this year in Miami. Eighteen preeminent thought-leaders in the field answered the questions, “What concerns you most about the state of journalism today? What excites you most?” Watch the video above to hear their answers.

The chairs work to ensure a brighter future for journalism involves several areas, including content innovation and business model adaptation. For example, a number of chairs have worked in the mobile and digital space to disseminate stories across new and varied platforms. At the University of Miami, Professor Joseph Treaster has created environmental journalism-focused websites as vehicles for documentaries, investigative reports and interactive modules. From her post at Syracuse University, Professor Charlotte Grimes has retrofitted the Democracy in Action and Democracy Wise projects to tell the stories of voters via multimedia videos.

Efforts like those of Professor Penelope Muse Abernathy, whose work at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill has focused on leading innovation in the business side of media, have addressed the dollars and cents problems facing journalism. The chairs maintain that addressing these underlying profit challenges is crucial to maintaining an independent press and a healthy democracy.

David Quinones wrote this post for KnightBlog.