I received the following yesterday:
Kerry to Chair Commerce Subcommittee Hearing on Future of Journalism
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.), Chairman of the Commerce Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet, will hold a hearing on Wednesday entitled, “The Future of Journalism.” The subcommittee will examine issues threatening the news media, explore how the industry arrived at this point and discuss potential models for news delivery in the future.
“It’s a critical time to examine the future of journalism in the digital Information Age and what it means to our country and our democracy,” said Kerry. “American history is inextricably linked to the narrative of our free and independent press, and today, America’s newspapers, which have been the bedrock of the free press, are struggling just to stay afloat as new means of delivering information are multiplying by the day. Whatever the model for the future, we must do all we can to ensure a diverse and independent news media endures.”
This is the subcommittee’s first hearing since Commerce Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) appointed Kerry to lead the panel.
WHO: Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.)
Chairman of the Commerce Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet
WHAT: “The Future of Journalism”
Commerce Subcommittee Hearing
WHEN: Wednesday, May 6, 2009
2:30 pm
WHERE: Commerce Committee Hearing Room
253 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
WITNESSES:
Panel I
Senator Ben Cardin
United States Senate
Panel II
Marissa Mayer
Vice President
Google Inc.
Albert Ibarguen
President
The Knight Foundation
David Simon
Former reporter
The Baltimore Sun
Steve Coll
Journalist
Former Managing Editor of the Washington Post
James Moroney
Chief Executive Officer
The Dallas Morning News
Arianna Huffington
Co-founder and Editor-in-Chief
The Huffington Post
Please dear Lord, please don't let the federal government get involved in "helping" journalism. The problems we face lie in greedy corporations and the over-all economy as well as antiquated economic models.
The only "help" I could see is restricting the number of media outlets any one company could own and I doubt that would get much support. It's so "anti-business."
I wonder when was the last time any of the witnesses actually faced the industry at the level most of us face it?
1 comment:
I honestly wonder if newspapers would be in this dire a situation had the last eight years of our previous Prez not been so hellbent on undermining, manipulating and devaluing journalism, period.
I know many locals who simply stopped buying/reading ANY newspapers, local or national, as a result of the Bush era (and on both sides of the 'camp', so to speak -- lefties and righties). It took an enormous toll, and that coupled with the selling out of downtown and local businesses to increasing spreading of corporate chains -- which refuse to buy local advertising (though some, like Penny's, Kohl's, Best Buy do subsidize local papers via their Sunday supplement stuffers and occasional daily stuffers) -- has really ravaged the market and perception of the validity of the Fourth Estate.
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