On Wednesday, in a speech to the Oxford Media Convention, John Whittingdale – the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport – decried the rise of ad-blocking technology as a “modern-day protection racket”, arguing that it poses an existential threat to online news platforms because it deprives them of all-important advertising revenue.

On this, at least (and maybe in his penchant for heavy metal too) Whittingdale is absolutely right.

Of course, most commercial newspapers are as dependent upon advertising in print as they are online; this is, after all, what enables them to survive without kowtowing to any single institution as a source of continual financial support.

While it may be a little rash to take Whittingdale’s comments as an indication of some great policy move from the government, it is certainly encouraging, with the Guardian sticking its head above the parapet to praise Whittingdale for offering “support to the newspaper and music industries”.

More generally, there seems to be cause for a wave of journalistic optimism right now. The government now appears to be in the middle of a significant climb-down in relation to its proposed changes to the Freedom of Information Act; cue sighs of relief from those concerned about where their next big story is going to come from, and rhetorical grandstanding from others. While the war is far from won, this latest attack seems to have been rebuffed.

On Monday, the launch of a new national newspaper, the New Day, was met, understandably, with much excitement, coming just a matter of weeks after it was announced that the Independent and the Independent on Sunday will no longer be produced in print form. What’s going on here, then? The New Day simply filling a gap in the market?

Apparently not, as media experts are predicting that the New Day will be seeking to poach readers from the Daily Mail and the Daily Express, rather than the now online-only Indy. Perhaps there’s life in the print marketplace yet.

In a way, it is sad that so much to do with our media comes down to economics.

Instead, we have to hope that this inevitable financial focus equates to a sort of journalistic survival-of-the-fittest, even if this leads us rather unpleasantly to wonder precisely what was the Indy’s crime.

And if, as the relative newcomer to the marketplace (certainly compared with some of the long-lived beasts of Fleet Street), the Independent had simply been less secure in its print form, what chance does the New Day have?

Any optimism which we may feel prompted to by the developments in the state of the media from the last week must be placed firmly in the right context.

Things are constantly changing: are the difficulties faced by the Independent the exception, or the rule? Will the New Day stake a claim to a slice of the market, or will it succumb to the strain under which the rest of the industry finds itself?

It is, of course, far too soon to say, and so while we may appreciate having cause for optimism for once, let’s not forget that until we know more, that’s all it can be – a hope for better times in print media.