Dr. Bernard Luskin, a social psychologist and media expert observes: "Media is social change. The only time the fishes notices the water is when it is gone. The key question, he said is "what makes the change?
Tom Foremski, observes that newspapers may die, but there will always be a need for journalism.
An audience member notes that the quality of newspaper reporting just keeps getting more shallow. Tom observes that his media consumption has increased because his lifestyle is always on. Carol Thomas talks about lifestyle impact sales of media. She used to read the NY Times on the subway. Then she changed jobs and moved to the suburbs. She had t drive to work and poof, the Times loses yet another subscriber.
Tom Abate notes that loyalty is to the distribution system because of habit. He's the only reader of newspapers in his family. His kids never touch the stuff. Tom Foremski likens newspapers to seeing a light at the end of the train tunnel yet being unable to survive the crash.
Blogher co-founder Lisa Stone says that we are at an inflection point where advertisers are finding a more targeted audience online. Blogher helps advertisers to reach women where they are working--on blogs. Blogher is like eBay. It exists to support a blogging community. Margins are lower but these bloggers are creating a new form of journalism that can succeed at east slightly through ad support.
Tom Abate tries to explain what convergence is all about. The question is whether or not all media is moving toward a single point, most notably, the handheld. Tom says the main point is we all need to be multilingual in communications and be able to communicate in multimedia terms. He gave several on line resources including a Brigham Young Powerpoint from a 2005 Conference.
Tom Foremski wonders if we are in a period of convergence. Everywhere they look, there is divergence. He has a point I think. Steve King of the Institute for the Future says we are an an ironic period of simultaneous consolidation along with fragmentation. He notes the Reuters publishes citizen journalism content every day. This is giving them broader content while reducing costs. He illustrated some exmples of NBC doing the same thing.
Abate notes that the capital of media companies will not be destroyed. He predicts big media will start looking at it as free labor.
Foremski talks about his experience as a journalist. He gets reader feedback all the time which did not occur when he was with the Financial times.
