The evolution of media just took another step forward this week, with the announcement that three big-time newspaper publishers -- Gannett, Knight-Ridder and the Tribune Company -- are combining forces to acquire a 75% stake in Topix.net, a Web site that monitors more than 10,000 online news sources. Financial terms of the deal were not divulged. This deal comes on the heels of recent Internet-related acquisitions announced by the Washington Post, the New York Times and Dow Jones.

Rex Hammock takes a closer look at what the deal means for the Old Media/New Media debate, with links to additional commentary from Susan Mernit, Paid Content and John Battelle.