The Vanishing Newspaper: Survival and Public Service in the Age of We Media

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Featuring Discussions With:

Stefan Dill Web Editor, Santa Fe New Mexican

Mary Lou Fulton VP Audience Development, The Bakersfield Californian

Jeff Jarvis President & Creative Director, Advance.net and Blogger, buzzmachine.com

Philip Meyer Knight Chair in Journalism, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Tim Porter Associate Director, Tomorrow's Workforce

The Media Center presents a free public webcast on the newspaper business model and its viability in a digital world.

In his new book, The Vanishing Newspaper (University of Missouri Press, 2005), Philip Meyer, journalism professor at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, writes:

"A newspaper produces two kinds of influence: societal influence, which is not for sale, and commercial influence, which is for sale. The quality of the societal influence enhances the value of the commercial influence. An advertising message is worth more if it appears in an environment of credibility and respect."

Meyer poses the question: Why are U.S. newspapers “vanishing?”  Why is their social and commercial influence on the decline? One reason is because the American public is losing faith in their ability to be fair arbiters of national discourse and honest recorders/ interpreters of community and national life. Another reason is that alternative avenues of information are gaining momentum, most notably on the Internet. The result has been declining newspaper readership and share of advertising dollars.

The Vanishing Newspaper webcast will look at how historic mass-media institutions can use new communications trends and tools to make credibility and public service once again integral parts of their mandate, thereby turning threat into the means by which the business model transforms into one more suitable for the connected society.

The webcast panel will be lead by Jeff Jarvis, well-known blogger and president of Advance.net, which oversees the Internet vision and strategy for Advance Publications, Inc. (owner of Conde Nast magazines, The Oregonian and the Newark Star-Ledger, among others). He leads a panel of respected thinkers and commentators about journalism and the role of newspapers in society, two of whom are executing newspaper citizen-journalism initiatives.

The panel will discuss:

• Is journalism and its social service function still important?
• Where does the spirit and tradition of socially responsible journalism and a better-informed society manifest in new media forms?
• How can historic mass-media institutions adapt to and thrive in the age of We Media? What should be their role?
• What will the newspaper of the future look like as a business and as a product?

Media Center events are always interactive. The audience will participate in polls as well as post questions, thoughts, ideas and comments throughout the event.

This is a FREE public webcast. Register Here