Some notes from discussion after the jump...

Bob Benz: Monologue turning into dialogue. Fragmentation of mainstream media. Mainstream media can survive if they embrace dialogue.

Steve Klein: New media is moving ahead without mainstream media, not trying to compete.

Kent Middleton: What happens to watchdog media, reporting on public affairs? First Amendment journalism won’t replace traditional editors and reporters. Serious journalism, people willing to pay for it.

Knight Stivender: Most valuable people on her team at the Tennessean are multi-talented. Click-thru rates on newspaper site are lower than click-thrus on niche sites (travel, music, etc.) Combination of business sense, marketing, basic journalism skills. Tennessee Green site manager manages community and advertiser relationships.

Chip Scanlan: Core courses giving way to online, multi-platform journalism courses. Freeloaders, Jeddite (concerned about future of some aspects of journalism, combination of journalism and luddite), incunubulate (in it’s infancy). People aren’t willing to pay for web journalism.

Bob Benz: What if online journalism is actual a senior citizen, being overtaken by text messaging other media? Local news is only pillar newspapers have left. Print ads targeted to aging audience.

Kent: Young people with families are interested in public affairs. Market for small town papers still good.

Steve: Manifest destiny, things are changing. People who don’t keep up will be left behind. Revenues continue to shrink. Journalism is a calling, the calling is online.

Chip: Journalism based on how it is collected distilled and analyzed. A lot of web journalism is done alone. Craft of journalism demands interaction.

Bob Benz: This generation is the smartest ever. Information coming at them from every direction. Journalism needs to be redefined. Develop people skills, while providing intelligent approach to journalism.

Kent: Newspapers redefining themselves as “information companies.” Journalism is gathering, analyzing, presenting information, strong government watchdog component, concerned about keeping that. Other niches important to profitability, but not at the heart of journalism.

Knight: People business, have to be able to deliver the information they want in a format that they want. Entertainment, etc. just as important.

Kent: It’s all important to readers, a journalism dying in Iraq to send back the truth is on a much higher level of importance.

Steve: Not just training journalists for the profession, working with other departments to teach media literacy to make more responsible decisions about mass of information out there.

Chip: Which came first, web journalism or the erosion of revenue? Stories are missed because of layoffs, not web journalism.

Guest: People are going to opinion leaders, “truth circles” in their community, experts and people they trust.

Knight: Media dictated what people would read how they would read it, and when they would read it. Internet left us behind.

Bob: How do you pay for a reporter to dog county commission? Do you go to a foundation? The business model is not keeping up.

Question: From consumer’s point of view, know a little bit about a lot of things, but don’t know a lot about important things, younger don’t even think it’s important. People don’t read books, when they read online, they don’t read as much content. De-intellectualization of the populace.

Bob Benz: We’re not getting stupid. When you’re in traffic on the interstate, what’s more important, fifty part series, or text message on how to get around the traffic. Briefer doesn’t mean dumber, just sifting through more information.

Question: Not about being dumber, going to like-minded communities, not going beyond.

Knight: Not the media’s job to save the world.

Question: Assignment gave students topic, told them to go find information about it. Students can’t differentiate between advertising and reporting.

Chip: Jon Stewart writer says if you don’t know the news you don’t get the jokes.

Bob: Companies that succeed will be the ones who can target their readers for advertising. Much higher CPMs for more targeted advertising.

Part 2:

Ken Knight: Newspaper covering niche markets in web journalism environment is intriguing. Until web salespersons realize how, money will not be made. In order for web journalism to be viable, it must make money,.

Ferrier: Changes in journalism. Are they still the watchdog? Watched a medium grow up around them doing their job. News values. The web introduces the shifting of news. What is newsworthy is changing. The web is more of a conversion. Breaking down barriers for readers to participate in news content.

Bryant: Consumer publishing has already thrived on niche marketing. Age brings a big difference to marketing for them, TVGuide.com. The older people that have always used the print version are not necessarily the same as the people who look at their on-line content. Guide told people what was on TV. Now, on the web, there can be a conversation about what is on TV. Just as murky in the niche market for determining how to be profitable.

Neal: Incorporating photos, videos, polls. MSM need to give up registration. Removing filters and gatekeepers. Community web-sites need creditability, civility, maturity, fairness, transparency, and trust. Attributes of a blog that newspapers are picking up on, bias is readily apparent, immediacy (newspaper are working on this more than TV), currency (frequently updated web-sites), permanency (MSM requires payment to view older archives), and community aspects.

Audience question: where draw the line between blogger and journalist? Her fear is the line will disappear and you will only need to go to a blog. Will it, journalist reporting out of Iraq, be as needed as it used to be?

Ferrier response: Doesn’t think bloggers will have the same kind of ethics and values as journalists. The media has allowed bloggers take over to some extent. Journalist must do a better job of providing information.

Kenneth Knight: Will you be as viable now as a journalism graduate as a blogger with no background? It has to be worked at. Traditional MSM is struggling to stay viable. Public should have the opportunity to participate. Media must provide separate content.

Ferrier: Just started a “murder map”. It is getting a lot of interest. They do need to pursue focus on other contact that is not crime. They started the MyTopiaCafe.com web sight for the “good news” web-site.

Audience: Michael Yon providing the best news from Iraq. He is not a “journalist”. The dedicated amateur, local activist may be able to do a better job than a reporter.

Audience: Seems like there is a fear of the web, like it will reduce the seriousness of the web. Mainstream journalist still in demand.

Neal: Blogs seem to be aggregators of the news. Bloggers are dependent on reporters to do the work. MSM will not go away. Blogging is more informal.

Audience: Blogging takes away from mainstream journalism. It is definitely a real threat.

Neal: Lower barriers to entry is affecting mainstream journalism just like MS Publisher did to publishing, digital cameras is to photographer. Information is being devalued.

Audience: MSM is looking for ways to survive, e.g. diversifying.

Audience (insightful young man): Fear of change, threats. Can’t look at it as fear. Must look to do the job better. Look at the threat to change it. It is the people who are going to take advantage of what is out there to make a success, make a new product.

Kenneth Knight: How do they make money on the web?

Audience: Big companies may be able to diversify enough. People may have to accept lower returns.

Audience: Regarding people not wanting to pay. People are probably willing to pay for certain niches, e.g. IGN, Sports sites.

Ferrier: Instead of creating more content of news and information, but use the existing information and repurpose it to make money.

Audience: Has anybody looked at the impact of micro-payments model for making content available?

Ferrier: Don’t believe MSM has looked at that. Every nickel adds up.

Scanlan: Re the threat to journalism that the web poses. Newspapers were called the first draft of history. The web provides a more varied view of history. He doesn’t see the web as a mortal threat.

Audience: Re Kendal, mobile platform. How is that affecting the media?

Neal: For a younger audience, not yet a large audience. It will be a technology aspect to meet the demands of the different formats.

Bryant: Important to find content that works for the mobile platform. Traditional can help pay for the new electronic mediums (sustain the losses), but maybe not forever.

Caudill: Is there some risk that web-sites are not elitist enough? Is there too much rabble that you have to wade through? Is it the job of the media to wade through the rabble?

Neal: It is beneficial for the MSM to gather the history of a story and track it in one spot on the web. Something they cannot do in print.

Scanlan: Don’t have to worry about being elitist. Too many bad journalists out there. It’s harder to do a good job.

Ferrier: Society is changing and the medium is changing, just like the pencil. The speed of getting and processing information is changing, whether on the web or print.