The Future of News?

Owen Wolter

Tue Mar 31, 2009 @ 1:29am

(Paul Jay, CEO of TheRealNews.com speaks about his company’s new model of news)

Monday night’s panel discussion on the “Future of News: In Windsor and Beyond”, held at the University of Windsor, has me puzzled. While it was pretty interesting, the theme of discussion drifted from a literal analyis of what the professional news media is doing to cope with the changing face of news (declining ad revenue, regulatory restrictions, demand for hyper-local news), to somewhat of a restatement of various news organizations’ ideological positions on why it’s important to stay the course in print, TV, radio, etc.

As a blogger, and micro-news-publisher here on Windsor Visuals, I was prepared to receive insight about how the professionals are using available tools (such as blogs, Twitter, and other forms of social media/networking) to address the public’s ever-growing demand for hyper-local news items. That is, while the demand for traditional forms of media may be down, the public’s demand for news, in general, is skyrocketing – thanks to the internet.

Several of the panelists, at times, made excellent points regarding, for instance, how the basis for all news begins locally, as well as how corporate news conglomerates do indeed hinder the efforts of affiliates to cover local news.

The panel discussion tonight was organized by the Media Justice Project at the University of Windsor, and was moderated by Communication Studies professor, Dr. Paul Boin. March’s blogger meetup actually took place at this event, to which ironically, no local bloggers in Windsor were invited to sit on the panel! More photos of the panelists after the jump…

Adrian Bateman, Managing Editor: A-News Windsor speaks about the detriment of losing reporters in the past due to cuts, and the future of A-News Windsor come August 31st.

Marty Beneteau, Editor: The Windsor Star, discusses how Windsor’s newspaper audience is growing steadily, and how the Windsor Star is not in an awful position of having to scale back, like the Detroit Free Press and the Detroit News.

Gary Cuncliffe, News Director: CBC Windsor.

This man is awesome, not only is he the spitting image of Lee Van Cleef, but his monthly newsprint publication, The Scoop, focuses on areas of local news that the Windsor Star does not address.

Gerard Malo, Representative for the Canadian Media Guild / Radio-Canada Employee discusses the role of the Canadian Media Guild, and how CBC Windsor’s French anchor (Radio-Canada Windsor) is losing 17 jobs.

Diane Warren, Representative for the Canadian Energy and Paper Workers Union / A-News Employee, gives a thorough history of CHWI Windsor (A-Channel), details how reporters, cameramen, microwave truck operators have been consolidated into single positions.

Tonight’s panel discussion was interesting, and was a good first step to plotting the “Future of News”. There was little provision made for public input, especially from Windsor’s alternate media/blogging scene. Future panel discussions are planned, I’m told, and perhaps these will address the true “Future of News”.

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anonymous

Like you, I was one of the disappointed bloggers there last night. Looking at the old guard represented on the 1980′s-era flyer should was a big heads up, so I didn’t have very high-hopes about the evening. And I was right.

What disappointed me was the incredible waste of resources in the sitting panelists! Prof. Boin, a CommStudies prof at the U, really dropped the ball as a moderator, as the panelists took up WAAAAAY too much time with their how-we-got-where-we-are monologues, eating away the precious Q&A period. Prof. Boin himself seemed to treat the forum as an extension of one of his lectures. The “future” of the news wasn’t addressed at all. It was a whine-and-cheese party for the old-guard of the news business. And it should not have been allowed to drift in that direction.

In the audience were authors of numerous award-winning Windsor blogs (My Local Food, WindsorEats, W.E. Speak, Windsor Municipal Shadow, Windsor Visuals, Out Of The Driver’s Seat, Here Be Dragons, Musically Speaking, WAMM and ScaleDown) whose multiple-thousands of daily readers fill a void that the panelists are leaving by not doing their job to the fullest, yet this wasn’t addressed at all! These folks alone probably have a better handle on exactly what the news organization of the future looks like than the panelists, and they only want to help.

We would be in a very sad state of affairs if any of these “mainstream” media organizations went away. Bloggers are voracious consumers of the news and supporters of the traditional media, yet we continued to be marginalized last night as lowly “citizen journalists”. Why the adversarial attitude when we all want the same thing?

These are all things that were not addressed, and for that this forum was a big disappointment!

Chris Holt
http://www.scaledown.ca
anonymous

I forgot to mention that Bike Windsor and Photo 404 were represented in the audience as well. Hopefully I didn’t forget to mention any of the other fantastic, volunteer-driven blogs out there!

As this forum was being held, Jeff Limire’s book launch was hapening down the hall, and TVO’s Agenda with Steve Paikin was focusing on Waterloo’s innovation economy. Now THOSE shows were dealing with the “future”!
paulboin

Thanks for your honest feedback (all feedback, good and bad, is truly much appreciated). This first public event event for the Media Justice Project (www.MediaJustice.ca), “The Future of News: In Windsor and Beyond” was an attempt to start (not end) a discussion of the current state and future of news. As this will be webcasted/podcasted (soon) from our website, it could serve as foundation from which to build future discussions and actions for an improved news media (in all its forms) future. It would have been wonderful if the comments many bloggers are making here and elsewhere (the day after) could have been made last night as it truly was meant to be a community discussion. Granted, I could have done things to mitigate your criticisms (a shorter panel list, a blogger rep etc..). But I’m/we’re not perfect. Im a busy/absent-minded professor who’s trying to do something to contribute to the community (beyond the ivory tower). The Media Justice Project is also instrumental in trying to bring a Real News (www.therealnews.com) branch/bureau/production hub to windsor. The blogger community could be a vital part of this new project to expand/amplify your voices and serve the people of greater Windsor. Please join-in. The invitation is open to all who’s interested in building a better media system and society (please drop me an email at pboin@uwindsor.ca if you’re interested). And again keep criticising/discussing as it does indeed seem that my goal was reached in terms of starting a community discussion. It’s up to you, and all of us to get this energy focussed on improving things. peace. paul boin.
nootka

i would have liked to have seen a represenatative from the blogging community as well as often times we have reported news before mainstream and even created it.

it did seem like a bit of “look at all the great things i do” kind of presentation by the panelists. would have like them to actually have addressed the issue rather than give a run down of their accomplishments and history.

granted this is the first of planned discussions on the issue, so hopefully the next ones are a bit more structured. as a comm studies student and a blogger, i’d probably be interested in participating in the next round.
ashen_ink

good shots owen. wish i had my 50mm last night. i posted an audio recording of the whole night on my site too. peace
ashen_ink

I remember someone said that the bloggers often lack community outreach or something like that too. Yet I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen local media at many of the events we cover for our community. Hopefully the next time a discussion like this takes place, it will include other forms of reporting and media out there.
westerntragedy

thank you for saving me a seat at the front Darren! I truly appreciate it :)
ashen_ink

no problem. was trying to get tom to sit up there too. made it easier for me to record audio and get clean shots.
hizza

The Windsor Star isn’t scaling back in the same way as the Freep/Detroit News, but I have noticed that the paper is significantly smaller than I ever remember it being. Lately some “sections” have just been a single piece of paper (4 news pages).

I hope that they incorporate the blogging scene, as it is undoubtedly a part of the Future of News.

Where can I get a copy of The Scoop? I’ve never heard of it!

and in immature conclusion, lol @ http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3609/3400962888_bbc1a5c063.jpg — all i see when i look at the u’s logo is flaccid penis, so the placement on the podium is comedy gold.
westerntragedy

yeah, thanks to Beauchamp, I’ve been seeing it as a flaccid penis too hahaha. scary stuff!

the Scoop, well, I usually pick it up at the University, especially it’s found all over the CAW Centre in newspaper racks. I’m not sure where else it would be, but there’s a chance Ontario Travel (Downtown or Huron Church locations), since they carry a lot of other Windsor magazines/newspapers like The Drive, Windsor Business, In Business. no guarantees they have it though.
westerntragedy

Well said, Chris!
paulboin

BTW there will be a “FUTURE OF NEWS 2.0″ community discussion that I’ll gladly organize for the Fall (October 2009) which will definitely have representation from the dynamic blogger community, as well as some future of the Internet/new media thinkers (any suggestions email me at pboin@uwindsor.ca).

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