Click here to download an MP3 of the Webcast (52MB)
Below is a moderately cleaned up version of the running comments that were posted during the Webcast. Only comments relating to technical issues were removed.
Questions received:
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Are there any successful business models, meaning ones that produce viable income without support from a print product?
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I follow the logic of the influence model -- and truly appreciate the clear explanation of the stats -- but I can't make the final leap to certifying journalists. How can this ever be done without being totally politicized?
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In the near future, do you think that college students should have their own websites with their resumes on it?
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Felicia Bray: Do you feel that in the next ten years, newspapers will be replaced by the internet?
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how is today's seemingly super-targeted media (blogs, niche publishing, etc) going to scale to produce revenue that will support news-gathering organizations
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Curt in Pittsburgh: (I asked about politicization of journalist certification). Here's a second question -- Does the interactive nature of web reporting provide a better way in the long run to develop trust with readers?
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My name is Darell Bell I go to PennState University one of the questions I had was what are some traditional forms of media that you feel are not being utilized in today' society?
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John Schessler, Penn State Senior: With all the newspapers online today, how popular are newspapers in print form? Are the numbers in readers declining?
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Mike Orren, Pegasus News: With the improvements in precision of ad tracking in the digital world, is circulation an outdated metric in determining a newspaper's infulence -- and therefore its ad rates?
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Diana Szuch: How much has circulation declined(if at all) with the emergence of online news sources, specifically blogs?
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Michael Odza, SantaFeNewMexican.com: I'm sorry, how are you measuring credibility?
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Is anyone experiencing problems with audio?
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Diane Velasco, Albuquerque Journal: Are there anyy successful business models for internet news, menaing ones financially viable without support from a print product?
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(reasked, with id) Julie Sargent, telegram.com: How is today's seemingly super-targeted media (blogs, niche publishing, etc) going to scale to produce revenue that will support news-gathering organizations?
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Felicia Bray: Penn State University, Sophomore, who if any one at all is responsible for the decline of the newspapers? With all the media sources that we have, do you agree that it is easier to log on line as opposed to reading the paper?
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Tom Johnson, IAJ: "ONLY" 13 percent math errors? Did those errors fall into categories of any sort?
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St. John Fisher College Rochester NY -- Is anyone besides us not seeing the slides?
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Darell Bell:Do you think that part of the reason why people dont read the newspaper is because of early childhood development and what they learned in school.
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Where does the NYT fit into a hard or easy to read newspaper, USA Today and Wash Post?
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Where does the NYT fit into a hard or easy to read newspaper, USA Today and Wash Post? question from paul dewey independent video journalist
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Mike Orren: Isn't the causal relationship between readability, correctness, etc. and ad rates a little tenuous? Lots of other factors there...
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Margaret Spurrier, KERA.org (NPR affiliate): Yes, public broadcasting is great journalism but we're struggling too, esp since only about 10% of our audience supports us.
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Diane Velasco, Albuquerque Journal: can you name some of those nonprofits doing journalism?
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What is the connection between readability and accessibility? I think they are different.
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Don at Daily Press; Newport News, Va.: Will newspapers ever feasibly be able to charge for regular online content, or will papers always get the majority of online revenue from advertising? Will chargin even be worth it, since print papers make most of their revenue from advertising and not circulation as it is?
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Gloria Pan: Diane, one example Phil cited is NPR
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Stephen Waters - I'm media AND a blogger.
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Media AND Bloggers...
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Can we find a better term than "blog"? It's so stupid sounding.
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sbw - Don't you think this column should ask us to send questions AND make comments?
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I like Tim Porter's idea about flipping the newsroom around and driving news coverage off the web, with the highlights appearing the next day in print. This implies a greater volume of stories and quicker story development. Is this an opportunity for making a greater connection to the audience and building influence? Curt Chandler / Pittsburgh
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I am not sure what can replace a newspaper but I dont feel that the internet will replace it because anyone can place something on a website.The newspaper seems to have some type of quality and essence that is different from any other media
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Terry Maguire: Does anyone believe that any other country in the world supports what Phil has learned in his study? The highest quality newspaper in Ireland (and I would argue one of the highest quality newspapers anywhere) - the Irish Times - has a circulation representing only about 3% of the Irish population. (There are no local dailies in Ireland.)
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sbw -- those are broad brush criticisms. All a newspapeer needs is one enabler.
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Marcelo Soares: The ombudsman of Folha newspaper, in Brazil, points the organized pressure of civil society through serious and specific media watch efforts (such as an agency that grades the quality of child coverage, a political science research project that measures the pro/cons in stories in election time and another effort to check the trends in violence coverage) may be an important element in helping the press get better. That seems to converge with Phil's certification idea. What do you think, professor? (Marcelo Soares, Brazil)
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The Irish What?
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[Aside: Hi, Terry McGuire.. from Stephen Waters]
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Darell Bell, Do you think that society can supply newspaper companies with ideas about how to increase readership and even more importantly interest to read?
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Felicia Bray: I agree fully, focus more on people and be different and creative in reporting.
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Tony Gentile, buzzhit.com. Tim, from my time in the industry, I completely agree with your cultural assessment. One additional challenge: in my experience, the 'newsroom culture' you're documenting extends into the online divisons as well...
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Antonia Zerbisias, Media Columnist, The Toronto Star. The biggest challenge newspapers face is overcoming the notion that, by going online, they cannibalize their core business. How do NP execs get past this and realize that there are so many opportunities in the online world?
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Playing devil's advocate, I have to point out that originating news online leaves out the still-considerable population that is not wired. Print is still more accessible. How do you respond?
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Marcelo Soares: Terry, I think the logic is the same for every country. We only have more layers of problems. In Brazil, for example, we still have to conquer new readers, those for whom newspapers are too expensive and especially the sad case of those who are educated and still do not have the habit to read.
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Speaking of exploding beats: Should traditional media assign newsworkers to the interpretive beat as decoders of all they find in blogosphere? Do most beat reporters today really have time to do that? (Glenn Scott, Elon University, & fortunate former student of Phil Meyer)
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Doug Fisher (univ of SC/Common Sense Journalism blog/column): Phil, I would suggest something different than the influence model. I think newspapers are an aggregation model -- aggregating eyeballs and aggregating news. For most, journalism/influence (as distinguished from information/news which makes up much of the content), is not really the primary product or motivator.
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While you folks primarily discuss newspapers, much of this discussion is equally applicable to broadcast outlets. For broadcast outlets -- television in particular -- change will be even more wrenching than for print.
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sbw - The most important criteria when hiring is someone who can think.
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Marcelo Soares: By the way, Tim: wonderful review of Phil's book.
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Felicia Bray: Print is dead in some aspects, how can we change that and keep people interested in the newspaper?
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Merrill Morris, Georgia State U.: It's not just newspapers that are resistant to change. Journalism schools are, too. New media like blogs shake us up, so we can start to explore new ways of doing journalism and teaching journalism, if we're smart enough to realize it.
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Cornelius Brown: I disagree that print is dead.
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Darell Bell, Do you think that society can grant newspaper companies with ideas to increase readership and interest in newspapers.
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Jerry Aliotta, DENSO: Do you see computer hackers posing any serious threat to news credibility and accuracy, particularly during times of national and world crisis?
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Diana Szuch: I use this book for a journalism ethics class.
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Judith Dinowitz: I would argue that online publications such as blogs, if not of quality, don't get much traffic, and that the public tends to be the determining factor in terms of what comes up on top.
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I think there's a place for institutional journalism, especially in a searchable data-base medium like the web. I think the mix of coverage seems to skew towards the initutioal in print display, because there's no way to publish that information in a periodic way without forcing the people stories off the page. Curt Chandler / Pittsburgh
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Marcelo Soares: Phil, what do you think about the average quality of undergraduate journalism schools in the US? In Brazil, it's a sad thing - aggravated by the fact diplomas are mandatory here.
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We need issue-based coverage and not event-based. Journalists are "stenographers with amnesia."
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Tony Gentile: It seems that there's a basic premise here that journalism is tied to a medium or format. Is Jarvis, or Lassica, or anyone else less of a journalist because they publish primarily (or only) online?!
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Darell Bell, I think that traditional media is used by older generations but younger generations tend to use internet, tv, and things other than reading. How do you think we can intergrade newspapers into the lives of younger generations?
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Marcelo Soares: Whew! Thought the problems happened just with me.
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Chad Capellman: From Philip Meyer via Chad Capellman at the Media Center: Alternatives to advertiser-supported journalism National Public Radio Center for Public Integrity Center for Responsive Politics
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sbw-Look, All he had to say was that Feedback is useful."
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The fire idea is great, that's what us Gannett papers in Florida did during our hurricane season from hell. The challenge is applying it to everyday news and convincing the newspaper management team it's OK.
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Felicia Bray: The paper that stands out to me is the USA Today because of the color and it is very catchy. A lot of people that I know feel the same way, and that is sad because other papers like the Times and our local, the Pittsburgh Post- Gazette have valuable info, and no one reads those unless they have to. How can we change that?
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Right about the disconnect from the reader, but it's always been true. Any time I read a story that I have some knowledge of or involvement in, there's something wrong with it -- either details, or something overemphasized that's not the "real story." Rich Donnelly, International Society for Optical Engineering
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sbw-Blogs?
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Valerie Jenkins: Please comment on how Le Monde print pub in France is incorporating citizen journalism. They give their journalists AND readers their own blogs. They are starting to outright buy choice content from the readers who blog. They have a published ranking of the 10 top blogs, mixing their journalists and reader blogs, giving them equal footing, based on blog readers ratings.
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Gloria Pan: It's not a question of winning BACK readers, but of adjusting to demographic change. Younger generations are just not going to pick up the habit when there are so many other alternatives
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How do you think blogs are effecting journalist..in a negative or positive aspect?
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I think the fire/hurricane model is something that can be moved more into day-to-day Web coverage by making it clear we want readers to respond and by publishing responses on the Web as we receive them. This requires greater breaking news resources, which gets me back to Porter's idea about flipping the news gathering model around and driving more content from web to print.
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Diana Szuch : How soon will the US pick up France's model of mixing blogs with traditional journalism? the NY Times recently bought a blog will they intergrate?
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sbw-France's model?
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#4 answer- STATE PORTALS- as in people can utilize all of the state's resources ONLINE!
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Valerie: France's model - Le Monde example (above)
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Darell, In all honesty I think that some newsrooms are more concerned about telling news and not being fair and balance and this effects not only reporting but also peoples trust in media.
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Does Le Monde print blogs and answers to them every day?
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Question: The nature of the internet is distributive; mass media centralizes. Which is going to have to give?
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Newsrooms work hard to get the "man on the street" quotes in stories (in Gannett, it's big)but we should focus more and more on getting people to comment online and then integrate that into further coverage.
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sbw- The nature of the internet is distributive; mass media centralizes. Which is going to have to give? They are not incompatible.
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"Microblogosphere" is redundant.
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Mike Orren: I don't know if there's a way to do a survey window on the fly, but I'd be very interested to see the breakdown on "media" folks on this call: How many from the business side vs. edit? (To Stefan's point about all departments needing to be engaged).
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Barry Friedman, The Ledger, Lakeland FL: Stefan, do reporters and editors participate in the feedback loop that's built into the online articles?
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Show off!
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Rich Donnelly: Doesn't the idea of actively using reader comments in stories kind of invite the screamers to hammer you with comments?
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Bill Hansen: Let's get down to bedrock: print is dead, get over it.
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sbw- Distributive vs. mass media: Editing has value.
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Gloria Pan: We did that earlier, More than 50% of this audience is media
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Felicia Bray: yes, I agree they focus on negative stories a lot more than they focus on human interest stories and postive impact stories. A lot of times reporters have a serious tone and that could change the meaning of the story or how we interpret the story.
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Mike Orren: I get that-- but how many of the "media" are edit vs. business
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Felicia Bray: yes, I agree they focus on negative stories a lot more than they focus on human interest stories and postive impact stories. A lot of times reporters have a serious tone and that could change the meaning of the story or how we interpret the story.
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You need to have general forums too, we have found several good stories ideas at Florida Today inside our forums. Yes, we need to have story-by-story forums, but the general ones work well too. You have to work to have reporters read and respond to the forums too.
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Bill D.: Stephan Gill said listen to the public. Which public?
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Glenn Scott , Elon Univ. -- Yes! My research also suggests that comments boxes dedicated to specific stories prompts far superior participation than do discussion boards and other more general online participatory features.
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Distributive vs. mass: more editors on the distributive side
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Curt Chandler / Pittsburgh -- You may get screamers, but you'll also get real information. The question: Is the cost of filtering out the screamers worth the benefit of engaging the public in "their" news product?
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Andrew Satter: What sorts of reputation systems do you set up to ensure against flaming and misinformation?
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sbw-for screamers... use threaded forums so their threads never get responses.
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Curt Chandler: You don't publish the flames (even when it's tempting), do your best to filter out misinformation, then be upfront when you discover something is wrong (which seems so hard for journalists to do ...)
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sbw-Over the last 10 years the largest share of ad dollars has leaked to the USPS.
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Do you think that some newspapers look to create a good story as opposed to actually being accurate.-Darell Bell
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sbw "look to create a good story" -- that's the accusation of those who, if they were publisher, would act that way.
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I don't get it... is this webcast about saving newspapers or saving journalism?!
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sbw-newspapers are independent of medium.
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With billions of dollars in fixed assets (printing presses), the prospect of going from a daily to weekly will be resisted...
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Could you name a possible newspaper that "tries to be everything, to all people"...I think of the USA Today?
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sbw-printing presses: --> niche publications
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Darell Bell, not so much the NYT
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Pat Valdata, Neumann College--Can someone address the conflict between the business of journalism and the mission of journalism?
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Mike Orren: We hear daily and weekly-- are those the only possible frequencies?
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Curt in Pittsburgh: USA Today is targeted toward travelers. It is a very specific product and has evolved to become quite different thatn good local daily newspapers --- even though the look a lot alike.
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You're thinking of Google Adwords, not AdSense. Contextual is not the revenue driver (yet).
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sbw-" business of journalism and the mission of journalism?" Yeah. I publish a newspaper and feel no conflict.
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Doug Fisher: Which gets to what I've written before -- that this innovation resistance has to take into account not only the cultural issues but the financial models and the need for massive writedowns. Viacom's already done it in radio. Some newspapers are starting to contract out their printing. I think we'll see more of it.
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sbw-Printing presses : Every department becomes a profit center.
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Well said Doug
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kml - if our print readers are dying off, all those printing presses start to look like bad investments anyway, don't they?
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"Every department becomes a profit center." That's what's killing TV network news
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Darell Bell, I think that community is an important part of newspapers they are what keep things going.
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sbw: "printing presses start to look like bad investments anyway, don't they?" No. Repurpose online content.
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sbw: "That's what's killing TV network news" -- No. The miss-application ofthe idea is killing network news.
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Bill Hansen: Is this webcast not a good clue on where we are going?
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Felicia Bray: I agree
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sbw: Is this webcast not a good clue on where we are going? -- I'm not sure. It's talking around the edges.
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sbw, that still assumes that print is a preferred medium. I think it's clear, generationally, that it's not
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Darell Bell, I dont think that enough journalist have enough respect for the craft of reporting news because if they did than we would have more accuracy. I think it is important to be accurate so that others dont have to correct what we write.
kml - This webcast is offering a lot of interesting 'what ifs' - but not a lot of solid examples on how to get where we need to go
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I would agree sbw that print is not the preffered way to get the news
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Readers aren't just correcting: they are extending.
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sbw - "We want to be the electronic pob-bellied stove around which the community kicks up it's feet". Wrote that in 1990.
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Felicia Bray: I was just thinking that same idea, what about people of different cultures, religions, and bcakgrounds?
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Darell Bell , kml I do agree I think we need to go beyond "if" but what we are going to do to actually keep journalism alive and well.
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Cornellius Brown says accuracy is a relative term
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Doesn't it seem that journalism has lived in the "what if" world for many, many years now? We've argued the demise of print for years. And here we still are...
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Rich Donnelly: So if you've got all these sites catering to people's beliefs and interests, how do we avoid people only listening to sources they agree with? The Fox News phenomenon, but times a million. More polarization.
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PV, Neumann--Isn't this "mis-application" of the profit center idea one of the reasons why inaccuracy seems to be increasing? This touches on what I meant by business-mission conflict.
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Gloria Pan: Stefan and Mary Lou are both practicing what they're preaching. If you want more details how to go, contact us after the webcast and we'll help you connect
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Extending is a good word. It seems scary to reporters who want to control "their" stories. But it shouldn't be. The goal should be producing the best story. Curt/Pittsburgh
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sbw - Nobody wants to read "The Daily Me."
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Diana Szuch: when readers are correcting journalists what does that say to those up and coming into journalism? Readers no longer take news for granted, and ethics and research will be very important for new comers.
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I read the daily me every day.
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I most certainly want to read "The Daily Me"
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me too
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Is it possible to post some pdf examples of the Northwest Vopice in the future so we can see how this web-to-print publishing cycle is working in practice?
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sbw-We give people waht they want PLUS what we feel they need. It goes beyond the Daily Me.
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Diana, people have always corrected stories... the difference now is that we're not dependent on the newspaper to publish our corrections!
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You're on your game today, sbw!
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chet zielinski: me too
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Darell Bell, Mary Lou if we do not target a general audience than what audience should we target?
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Felicia Bray: Who are we dependent on?
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Is the term "reader" outdated? Is that what our customers will really be? -- Suzanne Freeman, Scholastic News Online
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Doug Fisher: Interesting point, of course, on the democracy participation question. Bucy and D'Angelo have suggested that in the new scheme of things "media involvement migh instead be treated as a primary or major mode of civic participation -- that is, as a political behavior in its own right." (Mass Media/Society 2004 7(1) 3-28). Not sure I totally agree, but interesting that they're saying the changes in media also may require that we redefine what a well-informed participant is.
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sbw - "readers" is fine. Computer users are readers.
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SBW, do you have your own website? I'd like to read more on your ideas. -- CB
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sbw: http://blogs.rny.com/sbw/
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I knew that was coming.
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Felicia Bray: Yes, I agree computer users are readers, are they wrong to read the websites though?
ive people waht they want PLUS what we feel they need. It goes beyond the Daily Me.
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Diana, people have always corrected stories... the difference now is that we're not dependent on the newspaper to publish our corrections!
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You're on your game today, sbw!
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chet zielinski: me too
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Darell Bell, Mary Lou if we do not target a general audience than what audience should we target?
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Felicia Bray: Who are we dependent on?
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Is the term "reader" outdated? Is that what our customers will really be? -- Suzanne Freeman, Scholastic News Online
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Doug Fisher: Interesting point, of course, on the democracy participation question. Bucy and D'Angelo have suggested that in the new scheme of things "media involvement migh instead be treated as a primary or major mode of civic participation -- that is, as a political behavior in its own right." (Mass Media/Society 2004 7(1) 3-28). Not sure I totally agree, but interesting that they're saying the changes in media also may require that we redefine what a well-informed participant is.
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sbw - "readers" is fine. Computer users are readers.
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SBW, do you have your own website? I'd like to read more on your ideas. -- CB
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sbw: http://blogs.rny.com/sbw/
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Felicia Bray: Yes, I agree computer users are readers, are they wrong to read the websites though?
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wrong?
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Janelle Tipton, Tucson, AZ: How do we address the perceived slant journalism is so often accused of?
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Question for Stefan Dill: What's the best approach for very small online staffs re: "comment on this story" boards? We can't filter/approve/moderate extensive boards, which opens the way to libel/slander/personal attacks/profanity appearing on our newspaper-branded site ... which will upset the newsroom. -- Pam Burton, dailypress.com
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LJThornton, Arizona State -- The "informed participant" idea raised by Doug is intriguing. We try to vouch for information reported by journalists. How do we assess the info reported by non-journalists?
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Felicia Bray: Wrong to just read the websites as opposed to reading the issue at hand, the paper?
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Darell, I think one of the things that we should look at is that some newspapers offer there publications online so they are somewhat contributing to their downfall...no one will want to purchase a paper if its offered online?
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Felicia, we need to inoculate people to be able to defend themselves.
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Reading multiple voices help us assess.
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Felicia Bray: Yes, true
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Mike Orren: The money isn't necessarily "moving somewhere." Craig sucks $60mm out of SF classy market to produce revenues of around $5MM
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sbw-the question I addressed in 1993 was could the newspaper survive electronically without advertising. Yes. Charging HBO-like rates.
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Felicia Bray: I feel the same way, no one will read the paper if it is offered online.
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Question: Who's going to explain the institutional structures of society to people most interested in Martha Stewart or Michael Jackson?
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Darell Bell, customers or readers are more than just that but they are our audience and they are what keep the newspapers going.
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Don: What about "circulation" meaning more than "subscriptions"? Online content reaches far more people farther away than print for local papers.
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sbw: "Who's going to explain the institutional structures" -Thank you for mentioning the problem of education!
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sbw: "Who's going to explain the institutional structures" -Thank you for mentioning the problem of education!
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Tony Gentile: Interesting. I won't read "the paper" unless it /is/ offered online...
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Darell Bell, I think that online does reach more people but we wouldn't be having a web discussion about depletion of the newspaper if it was still a major form of media
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Younger readers aren't reading the newspaper in print. If we can get them to read it online, isn't that better than bot connecting with them at all? To use Phil's model, if we become an influence to those younger readers, revenue should follow. Curt / Pittsburgh
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The Reynolds Institute at Univ of Mo. (coming in 2007) has talked about offering training to citizens who want to be involved in journalism. -BW
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M. Spurrier: we need our audience to tell us what matters most to them and then give it to them, rather than just force-feeding Michael Jackson and Martha Stewart to them.
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Please define, if you would, the role of the effective professional journalist 5 years from now. Most of the discussion is on the role of the newspaper in the future. For the moment, let's just concentrate on the professional journalist.
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Felicia Bray: A lot of paper can say the same thing if they do not have internet sources. They won't read anything but the newspaper.
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Chad Capellman: The Harvard event referenced to by Jeff can be found at http://www.mediacenter.org/content/5100.cfm
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Mary Lou: How much do you edit the participatory content? What if you don't trust the accuracy of a submission?
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sbw: Journalist of the future -- Someone with a classical liberal arts education+
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Gloria Pan: URL for Onliine Journalism Review's new wiki in journalism skills for citizen journalists: http://www.ojr.org/ojr/wiki/
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sbw, are you a journalist? What's your story? --CB
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Darell Bell When we have journalist who report inaccurate news than people tend to trust themselves or "Jo" down the street more than a newspaper...journalism in that sense may not be taken seriously.
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Steven Ibanez, FLORIDA TODAY - We talk about the death of newspapers, but how about the change from a focus on subscriptions to a focus on readership? With online, we can generate very exact readership info, but with print products we are half-blind. Isn't this focus going to hurt print products eventually when advertisers start asking for more exact numbers on who's reading the paper?
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sbw: small daily publisher
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Merrill Morris: Merrill Morris: sbw -- great point. A liberal arts education is a great way for a journalist to get started -- and I say that as a journalism professor.
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MSpurrier: To incorporate citizens w/o handing them the press, start w/interest polls, then select articulate respondents to participate in an education/reporting project. KERA's Voter's Voice 2004 congressional debates was great project - happy to discuss - contact mspurrier@kera.org.
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Felicia Bray: Yes, some young people tend to watch the news programs because it's seems correct and they assume it to be true. To many times we do not research and think for ourselves.
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Merrill Moris -- and how much statistics or other forms of quant. analysis are taught in your program? [JTJ]
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sbw - back in 1993 I said that most publishers had the internet ass-backwards. They didn't see it as a news generator and reporter multiplier.
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Nelson Kirkland: question for Mary Lou, has the revenue for the northwest county voice grown since launch ? how about the readership ? how do you measure the readership ? has your organization considered using the citizen journalism model for a TMC for bakerfield ?
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Merrill Morris: JTJ -- not enough, I'm sure. We don't even have a CAR class right now.
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Gary Lunsford: If readers are screaming "I don't have time to read"(value), why do we think consumers will now have time to both "actively participate in developing the news AND then read the news"?
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"why do we think consumers will now have time ..." That's where editors come in.
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MM -- So there you go. This just underlines what Phil was saying about the failure of journalism educators NOT preparing students for the current information environment, to say nothing about the future.
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sbw: First, people need to learn their self-interest is to have the best mental map of reality to plan their very best future.
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sbw ... I do that with second graders.
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sbw, you're quite microblogscentric
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sbw: Do I say thanks or throw a fit? ;-)
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Ari Soglin, GetLocalNews.com: Question for Mary Lou Fulton: What do you think of a model under which citizen journalism contributors get paid on the basis of article hit counts or some other metric?
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Question for Tim Porter: Given that most of us in newsrooms would agree that it's a defensive, risk-averse biz: Do you have ANY hope that newspapers will react quickly enough to change before the business is wrested from them? And if you have hope, what gives you that hope? -- Pam Burton, dailypress.com
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sbw: I want to give contributing readers "points" - not money.
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Don: I'm glad copy editors got a mention. How important and numerous will they be in the future of media?
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Andrew Satter: What about turning it around and making traditional journalists keep blogs that shed trahnsparency on their reporting and sourcing? If the problem is credibility, won't this create more trust in the product?
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Merrill Morris: I have to agree. I think journalism education has a long way to go. I like Meyer's point about research even being behind the curve. First thing we need to do is shake up the categories within journalism schools -- being a "newspaper" or "broadcast" professor doesn't cut it anymore.
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AS: And is anyone doing this?
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Darell Bell, I think the root of the decline in readership is the amount of reading people do when they are younger. I remember in highschool we read allow and many people could not read vey well...is this the root?
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Is the trusted copy editor/aggregator the "platform" of tomorrow?
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sbw: Is this the root? Everyone should read "Less than words can Say" by Richard Mitchell -- to understand the value of words.
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Merrill Morris: Don -- copy editors have gotten the worst deal of all lately, with more and more work piled on them as papers. Newspapers would do well to realize how important they are.
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Curt in Pittsburgh: I think local, local news is saleable, just like specialized sports news. I am intrigued by the New York Times suggestion of pre-paying for spcialized news, creating an account and then only being charged for the amount you actually use the site (This from the questionaaire they sent out last month)
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Darell, i think it starts in school system and community and what the importance of reading is.
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I think you're confusing the ability to read with modality
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sbw: In the future, people are going to pay for speed, quantity, detail, and editing.
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Doug Fisher: Let me suggest two looming technical developments that will propel/change this debate even more. First is the advent of "e-paper," which is going into production. Second is the move of TV from current analog channels. That will open up tremendous bandwidth for digital uses, both on the abandoned frequencies and on the sidebands of the new digital channels. Imagine if that TV tower now can throw a "wireless" footprint of hundreds of square miles -- and into "e-paper."
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Merrill Morris: Y'all, we aren't going to teach these kids to love reading by the time they get to college. They love TV, they love the Internet, especially IMing.
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In California, with small businesses advertising online are you seeing a trend in those customers becoming repeat customers?
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Darell, being able to read effects what you read. A person is not going to read the NYT if the words are challenging
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Mike Orren: The long tail -- future of news and advertising
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sbw: Yeah, news outlets will die, but others will evolve and start.
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I think it is left to Journalist-Darell
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Doug Fisher: I still wonder why more of the "traditional" journalism organizations -- IRE, SPJ, etc. -- aren't more involved in this "What is journalism worth?" debate. Why do you think that's the case?
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Felicia Bray: That's what I am learning now!!!!!!
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Pat, Neumann: The issue is much too complex for a simple yes/no vote!
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Here's a flowchart that gives my vision of the New Media Ecosystem http://www.echochamberproject.com/blog/archives/000101.html
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sbw: "What is journalism worth?" -- "Journalist" is an earned accolade. Look up "Whuffie" in wikipedia.
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Darell Bell, Why dont newspapers utilize telivision...I never saw a NYT commercial. Shouldn't each media utilize each other?-Darell Bell
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Doug Fisher: sbw - exactly! If journalists are so worried about their futures they seem strangely uninvolved in a lot of this debate.
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Felicia Bray: Yes, there have been commercials for the USA Today, but not for the Times, that is interesting.
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Don: Merrill, and it looks to me like more and more work will be piled onto fewer and fewer copy editors in online media. I wonder if Pam (also at Daily Press)agrees with me.
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Andrew Satter: Podcasting is the new egalitarian medium, but it is mostly amatuer so far and the quality is, to be kind, not very good. How do you elicit quality in citizen journalism?
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Kent Bye -- Communications Theories -- Here's a Master's Levels Thesis that integrates the seven different communications traditions -- Rhetorical, Semiotic, Phenomenological, Systems, Sociopsychological, Sociocultural, and Critical. http://www.echochamberproject.com/blog/archives/000108.html
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Doug Fisher: As a former pro and now educator, let me make just one observation: "You've got to pay to play." Business schools learned that a long time ago.
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Laura Ruel: Laura Ruel: One note about skills courses. Well taught skills courses teach critical thinking alongside the skills.
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sbw: Journalists haven't the skill to advertise in their own media much less others. Aren't the ESPN self-promotions great? I want to do, "Not just fishwrap!"
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Too much panel, too little participation. The irony is overwhelming...
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Merrill Morris: Laura, that's so true about skills courses. I agree completely.
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sbw: Thanks.
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I agree, this should have been more directly interactive. But it's a good start. Curt / Pittsburgh
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chet zielinski: me too
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So when is the Vanishing Newspaper weekend seminar?
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Ray Harris: thanks, great event
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Marcelo Soares: Very good. Phil et al, thanks a lot.