If you think the media aren't ready to face change and find new ways of doing excellent journalism, you're not paying attention. They're hungry for ideas to help them evolve and transform what they do.
People came away from "ONA Nashville: Journalism Has a Future" excited about the possibilities. The Jan. 30th workshop, hosted by the Online News Association and the Freedom Forum, attracted nearly 80 journalists, journalism educators,
students and bloggers from all ends of Tennessee (and some neighboring
states) to the Freedom Forum's John
Seigenthaler Center on the edge of the Vanderbilt University Campus.
Cell Journalist Inc., a Nashville-based start-up with a photo and video sharing platform, helped underwrite the event.
The day-long series featured a look at niche products, revenue ideas, social media, the evolving newsroom and low-cost, no-cost tools, link journalism and blogging in the newsroom.
Keynote speaker Janet Coats, Executive Editor of the Tampa Tribune, discussed how her paper is embracing change and the difficult choices instead of just trying to do more with less. Her speech left many of her listeners energized despite the gloom and doom surrounding them in 2009.
After the event, small-town journalist and well-known Tennessee blogger Trace Sharp wrote that Patrick Beeson, E.W. Scripps content director, brought up something that she had been thinking about: "He basically was saying that, I think, that we as an industry are so busy justifying the print product that we are not focusing on the future of news delivery. We did on Friday, which was like drinking cold water in the desert after a long, desperate journey. It was refreshing for folks like myself who are unheard evangelists in my little neck of the woods."
One journalism educator left the workshop with affirmation of the need to infuse more online modules into his school's curriculum.
"The workshop reinforced our resolve to build a stronger online component to our mass communication division," said Dr. Jim Miller of Harding University. "Our students need more opportunities to explore new ways of storytelling. The Web has brought incredible change to the news industry, and our students benefited from interacting with journalism professionals who are embracing that change."
Many regional bloggers and journalists who had never met face to face got to network, and blogged about it as well. Here are some links to coverage of the workshop:
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