went to a panel discussion featuring presidents/chairs/ceos of npr, cnn, ap, and the knight foundation. summary: we are f’d and we really have no clue how to fix it.

so no one exactly came out and said that last part, but here are my longer-winded takeaways.

1. kids these days: i hate this notion that old people have that young people care less or consume less news. i can absolutely prove this is probably false because a) we get news from nontraditional places that old people don’t count in their estimations and b) we care about stupid stuff at equal rates as older generations, it’s just easier to track and quantify that now. just because everyone used to get the newspaper didn’t mean they read it, and if they did, it doesn’t mean they read the important parts.

the only intelligent thing that was said (by the npr lady) about the youth audience is that we consume news in different media. podcasts instead of live radio, blogs instead of oped pages, etc. just don’t insult us and imply we somehow are dumber and less engaged than you guys were at 25. we are just as vapid and insincere as generations past.

2. we have the audience, we just don’t have revenue streams: yeah ok thanks. so what are you going to do about revenue streams? ::uncomfortable silence::

3. we need to get over nostalgia, and fast: newsprint will never be the same, and stop getting all misty-eyed over the broad coverage of a daily newspaper. sure i kind of like newspapers, too, but broadness does not ensure democracy. separate what we like from what we need, then we can spend more time on that minor revenue problem.

the fella from the knight foundation was the biggest culprit of this thinking, as well as the incoherent audience members from the QA. without going into details, I HATE QUESTION ANSWER SESSIONS. this is entirely related to my views on populism, and by “views on” i mean “disdain for.”

4. we are so over natalee halloway: the cnn guy said that since he started, they don’t do major “cute blonde girl gets killed what a tragedy” coverage anymore. is this true? i don’t watch cnn because it’s the least efficient way to gain good information. it is, however, very good at showing you pictures of wildfires, flooding, and hurricanes. OOOH pretty pictures.

lastly, DID YOU KNOW THAT ALIENS HAVE RETURNED TO EARTH?

meet alf jr:

this is what i sat behind during the entire presentation. this is possibly a ferret growing out a teenager’s head. i wanted to trap it, but there’s a decent chance i’d be arrested for assault or child touching.

if this girl’s hair is the future of journalism, god help us all.

departing time inc. dude jim kelly says:

“The idea that the price of advertising would slowly creep up enough on the web that it would be a profitable business is obviously turning out to be not anywhere near the case.”

i’m not saying i know how to fix journalism, but this is something that has bothered me about the conclusion that journalism absolutely cannot survive on online advertising alone. true online ad rates are much lower than print rates right now, and true, they aren’t growing as fast as publications need them to.

BUT did we forget we’re in the worst recession since the dawn of the internet? are people seriously drawing the conclusion that since online ad sales are horrific right now, it means they will be horrific forever? i just think it’s not the best time to make assumptions about the long-term viability of business models. just saying is all.

there are two reasons to venture to the midwest. 1) to attend a conference for minority journalists and 2) to see boatloads of friends who have transplanted themselves in the middle of all things troy/university of michigan.

notes from the conference
1. workshops galore on how minorities are screwed in health, wealth, education, prison, everything. apparently we minority journalists are supposed to write stories about it all.
2. a quick guide on how to tell a print journo from a broadcast journo.

we don’t really care about radio, but they’re probably more like faceless print journos than anything else.

3. the senegalese president was speaking at this conference about free speech. there was quite the kerfuffle, and a fist fight actually broke out amongst critics and supporters. missed the fight, but did get to see a lot of angry people.

as for my many friends who live in chicago, our one night of partying can basically be summed up by this pic:

i just wish i could remember what song was playing.

brokaw’s take on young people and the future of journalism–broadcast, print, online, and beyond:

Forbes: Once you get [young people to watch long-form documentary], they may be compelled, but how do you get them to tune in in the first place?
Brokaw: It’s tough. It’s the same thing as trying to get them to read a long-form magazine and newspaper pieces. Everyone wants to do YouTube and Match.com.

at least we now know brokaw has never actually tried to use match.com.