I received the Spring 2009, Pomona College Magazine and was sitting by the pool reading it when I realized the magazine editors had compiled a timely and comprehensive set of articles on the present and future of journalism. The articles were written by Pomona College alumni ranging from Bill Keller, Class of 1970, and New York Times Executive Editor to Molly Goodson (@mollygoodson), Class of 2004, Editorial Creative Director at PopSugar.
The title of this post refers to the University of Georgia, Grady College, New Media Institute, Technology For The Turnaround (my blog post) event I attended April 25, 2009. That event focused on the future of journalism, public relations and mass communications. At the end of the event, all attendees agreed this is an evolving discussion and a critical piece to the future of the social web ecosystem. If you want to review the conversation and discussion that occurred during the event, use the hashtag #tech4turn and do a search on Twitter.
I believe journalism and journalists are very important to researching, analyzing, synthesizing and reporting on local, national and international events. I also believe that bloggers are and will become more like journalists and journalists will become more like bloggers and vloggers. It is the merging of professional and practiced journalism technique with social technologies that will lead to the future of what we currently call newspapers and magazines. Once newspapers, magazines and journalists truly embrace social technologies and become unencumbered by the spatial requirements of paper, they will both deliver far more depth and insights and more concise stories. Journalists must embrace tools like Twitter that enforce a 140 character limitation while also taking advantage of the infinite space afforded to them on websites and blogs to deliver far more background and depth to their stories that were edited out in the past.
There was also an excellent debate last night (July 6, 2009) on #Journchat (@Journchat) about journalism and public relations specifically related to a New York Times story: "Spinning The Web: P.R. In Silicon Valley" and the corresponding arguments about this article on TechCrunch: "The Reality of PR: Smile, Dial, Name Drop, Pray" and Dave Taylor's The Business Blog At Intutive.com: "Mike Arrington Doesn't Understand PR At All..." Both blog posts make strong arguments about the pros and cons of PR today and how integration of traditional and new media approaches are required to be successful.
Below are links to the Pomona College Magazine articles on the present and future of journalism. Read and enjoy.
- Endangered Species: The Future of the News, The Reporter - Richard Perez-Pena (@perezpena), Class of 1984 (full disclosure, I am also a Pomona College alum, Class of 1984)
- Revolution Redux: The Future of the News, The Columnist - Mary Schmich (@MarySchmich), Class of 1975, Chicago-Tribune Columns
- Not With A Bang: The Future of the News, The Editor - Bill Keller, Class of 1970
- Holding On & Letting Go: The Future of the News, The Blogger - Teresa Valdez Klein, (bio @tetesagehen) Class of 2005
- Search Your Feelings: Professor Sara Sood's Cyberquest for the Heart of the Blogosphere - This is a very interesting article and research project as Prof. Sood is trying to figure out how to search on emotional context of a word or phrase instead of literal meaning.
- Gossip Girl: Molly Goodson, Class of 2004, Feeds The Endless Cycle of Celebrity News at PopSugar
July 8, 2009 Revision - I am adding this blog post: "Thoughts on the Future of Journalism from the Purple List" as another good discussion on the future of journalism.
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