We just got back from the East Tennessee Society of Professional Journalists panel discussion on blogging. There were great questions (as you might expect from a room full of journalists) and lively discussion about the relationship between blogs and the media, the history and future of blogging, and more.

On the panel were journalist/blogger Betty Bean, KNS Editor Jack McElroy, UT law professor and Instapundit Glenn Reynolds (and his lovely wife Helen in the audience), UT Journalism and Electronic Media lecturer (and walking, talking encyclopedia of journalism, newspapers, and blogging) Bob Stepno, Rocky Top Brigade proprietor Johnny Dobbins, and yours truly.

Our host was Dorothy Bowles from the UT School of Journalism and Electronic Media and past president of the East Tennessee Society of Professional Journalists. Current president Ed Hooper was also there, and he was most gracious. It was also nice to see Mark Harmon, UT professor of broadcast journalism and newly elected Knox County Commissioner.

We met lots of other great folks, and it was a real pleasure. The Mrs. took some notes and may have recorded the discussion. We will try to sift through all that and post some highlights later.

Bonus, KNS Managing Editor for Multimedia Jack Lail, who is a super nice guy, gave the Mrs. and me a personal tour of the KNS facilities and newsroom. (We got to meet Saul Young, one of the KNS's great photographers who was apparently working late.) Their $25 million+ printing press system is a miracle of modern engineering, capable of cranking out 70,000 newspapers per hour. It was totally awesome.