A few dozen students and faculty gathered yesterday to hear several local journalists debate the future of journalism and ultimately concede that journalists will continue having to sacrifice their news coverage as newspapers face declining advertisement revenue.
The forum, "The Changing World of Journalism: From Teletype to Twitter ... Where Do We Go From Here?", was dominated by issues such as economic shakeups in media, news organizations' focus on local news, news on mobile devices, the death of print media and the effects of blogging.
Panelist Mark Miller, news director of WBLA Radio, opened the discussion by stating that despite the current turbulence of the journalism industry, "the truth is that journalism is not dead." The other two panelists were quick to agree, but all noted that news organizations would be moving online.
"Newspapers will not survive in a recognizable form," said Kevin Blackistone, the university's Shirley Povich Chair in Sports Journalism and frequent panelist for ESPN. "People will get news from their web and mobile devices."
Miller and Leslie Walker, the university's Knight Visiting Professor in Digital Innovation and former editor of The Washington Post/Newsweek Interactive, were frequently on the opposite sides of the issues, generating much laughter from the audience. On the issue of whether print or online stories are more intimate, Miller argued having a physical newspaper in a reader's hand enhances the intimacy of reading the story, whereas Walker said she believes the Internet is more intimate because a reader can post comments and communicate with the reporter.
Student reasons for coming to the forum ranged from recognizing the names of the panelists to being a journalism major and being directly affected by the topic.
"I recognize Blackistone, and I have seen him on TV, so I wanted to see him," said freshman journalism major Victoria Lisle. "[Professors] constantly tell us how the field is changing, and I wanted to learn more."
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