The following is a blatantly-copied press release for an upcoming community event that I am (very loosely) involved in the organization of. Download the event flyer here (pdf), and spread the news to anyone you know that is interested in the future of journalism in Seattle (and elsewhere).
Obviously I give the traditional fish wrap media a pretty hard time on here, but I imagine that even having biased newspapers is better than having no newspapers at all, and with the impending closure of the Seattle P-I and rumors of imminent bankruptcy at the Seattle Times, I think this forum will be a good opportunity to explore “what’s next” for the traditional style of journalism.
Seattle Community Organizes February Event on the Future of Journalism
No News is Bad News is a community-sponsored event discussing the future of journalism in Seattle from 7-9pm.
On February 26, 2009, King County community members will gather in the Bertha Landes room at Seattle City Hall to discuss the state of the news industry and the future of journalism. The event, titled “No News is Bad News: Seattle As a No-Newspaper Town?” was conceived and planned by a group of local bloggers, journalists, and news employees.
The event is free and open to everyone. Registration is currently open online with two hundred seats available.
“This is a real community effort,” said Mónica Guzmán, one of the event organizers. “It’s amazing how many people are concerned about the future of journalism. This event couldn’t happen without their interest, help, and support.”
No News is Bad News will feature a panel of speakers, but the focus of the event is on listening to feedback from the community. Attendees should arrive expecting to be part of a discussion where they can share their concerns and comments. Following the event, a summary of the proceedings will be published online and shared with the community.
With newspapers beginning to fail as a result of both the internet and the current recession, bringing the state of news to the forefront of the community conversation is more important than ever. “Raising awareness of what’s happening to journalism in this city is one of our main goals,” said Dylan Wilbanks, another event organizer. “We don’t want people to wake up tomorrow and suddenly realize that nobody’s keeping an eye on Olympia anymore.”
The panel features such prominent thinkers as Jay Rosen, professor of journalism at New York University, Kathy Gill from About.com and the University of Washington, and sports columnist Art Thiel from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
For more information about the event, visit http://nonewsisbadnews.org/, or contact Dylan Wilbanks at wnalyd@gmail.com.
Mark » Feb 14, 2009 at 12:55 pm
The future of journalism is simple — going out of business. They should. All too often they have been irrelevant or dishonest. By irrelevant, I mean, who cares about local fires or traffic accidents? By dishonest, I mean, nobody’s been reporting on Olympia or county government in a way that actually makes government accountable to the people.
They’ve been trivial because they’ve been in the pocket of advertisers, who don’t want the boat rocked.
Personally, I am most interested in economic and stock market news. The blogs I read are a much higher quality than anything published traditionally. That includes this blog. So I say, good riddance to the newspapers. They will die. Or they will be passed around between rich benefactors, who will each become less rich.
Eric » Feb 14, 2009 at 4:31 pm
If career media is providing a service that customers actually want, then there will be a business model to pay for the value it provides. Let the newspapers die now to clear the decks for a truly new media to be established that serves contemporary needs. The newspapers want to bring back the world of old – rather than seriously adapt to the new world realities around them.
Crashcadia » Feb 14, 2009 at 10:29 pm
Over the past few years the mainstream media has done more harm than good.
I say good riddance.
They have all gone the way of the NAR.