Is there any efficient alternative to big newspapers with decades long editorial reputation?

I'm not pitying the useless money grab ad-infested publications, but they were the ones that actually spent on good journalism.

Though it would be good to see a lot more numbers/data about this. Also probably with globalisation the market simply consolidates. There's no need for more than a handful big "trust anchors" for news. The local news problem is tougher to crack though :/