• The News about News Provision

    Robert G. Picard
    December 7, 2009

    Robert G. Picard, Ph.D is director of the Media Management and Transformation Centre at, Jönköping University in,Sweden. The following is an excerpt and link to his paper, “Tremors, Structural Damage and Some Casualties, but No Cataclysm: The News about News Provision,” delivered at the Federal Trade Commission’s “News Media Workshop” held on December 1 and 2, 2009:

    During the past decade, the rhetoric about news provision in the United States has become increasingly steeped in the discourse of disaster. Journalists and commentators have spoken of wholesale destruction and devastation caused by crippling changes that have shattered the industry’s business model and left a wounded democracy without means to survive. The language has become increasingly desperate and plaintive.

  • Investigative Journalism and the Changing News Business

    Paul E. Steiger
    December 7, 2009

    Paul E. Steiger is editor-in-chief of ProPublica. The following are his remarks delivered at the Federal Trade Commission’s “News Media Workshop” held on December 1 and 2, 2009:

    Thank you to the Commission staff for inviting me to be here today—and thank you to the Commission, and particularly Chairman Leibowitz, for sharing the concern that many of us feel about the state of the news business, and the implications for democratic governance.

  • Newspapers and Electoral Politics

    Matthew Gentzkow
    December 7, 2009

    Matthew Gentzkow is a professor at University of Chicago. At the Federal Trade Commission’s “News Media Workshop” held on December 1 and 2, he gave an extended presentation entitled, “The Effect of Newspaper Entry and Exit on Electoral Politics.”

    He presented new data on entries and exits of U.S. daily newspapers from 1869 to 2004 to estimate the effects on political participation, party vote shares and electoral competitiveness. His research found that “newspapers have a robust positive effect on political participation, with one additional newspaper increasing both presidential and congressional turnout by approximately 0.3 percentage points.”

    Read his full paper.

  • Newspaper History for Realists

    Tom Leonard
    December 7, 2009

    Tom Leonard is a professor in the Graduate School of Journalism and the university librarian at the University of California, Berkeley. The following are his remarks delivered at the Federal Trade Commission’s “News Media Workshop” held on December 1 and 2, 2009:

    Discussing journalism, a few years after he launched a successful newspaper in New York in the 1840s, Horace Greeley wrote, "I have been fortunate here, as the world says. . . (but) I need money badly, and I am an assemblage of pains . . . You do not realize how little the mere talent of writing well has to do with success . . . there are a thousand in this city who can write very good prose . . . while there are not fifty who can earn their bread by it."

    This should be enough for all of us to put away our notions of a Golden Age for reporters and editors, when markets were open, quality journalism thrived, and the public lined up with advertisers, handing money over with a smile.

  • Washington Weighs In Against Wireless Industry

    Josh Levy
    December 7, 2009

    Last week, we finally saw some federal action against anti-consumer practices in the wireless industry, in the form of legislation in the Senate and an inquiry from the Federal Communications Commission.

  • Leading Role for Public Media at FTC

    Candace Clement
    December 3, 2009

    This post originally appeared on www.NewPublicMedia.org

    The second act of the Federal Trade Commission’s production of the latest off-Broadway hit, “Much Ado about the Future of Journalism,” came with a nice plot twist. Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) kicked it off yesterday with a commendable soliloquy that pushed the market forces argument out of the spotlight by introducing suggestions for policy changes to promote a “vigorous” free press.

  • Waxman: Policy Does Have a Role in Saving Journalism

    Josh Stearns
    December 2, 2009

    Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) on Tuesday called for policies to help revitalize journalism and keep reporters on the job.

    Speaking at a two-day Federal Trade Commission workshop on the state of journalism, Rep. Waxman said that market forces aren’t the only solution to the current crisis – a position argued by News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch on Monday. Rep. Waxman instead described the crisis as a "structural problem," with new polices and tax incentives as part of the remedy.

    Rep. Waxman expressed concern about the decline of quality journalism as more news outlets close their doors. "Consolidation of the media business has not helped," Waxman said. "This is a policy issue [and the] government is going to have to be involved in one way or another."

  • David Westphal on the Future of News at the FTC

    Josh Stearns
    December 1, 2009

    David Westphal is the former Washington Editor for McClatchy Newspapers and joined USC Annenberg as executive in residence. He spoke today at the Federal Trade Commission’s future of journalism workshop. Below are his remarks. Westphal and his colleague Geoffrey Cowan also published an excellent article in the Online Journalism Review today.

    Check back at SaveTheNews.org where we'll be posting more commentary and interviews with speakers at the FTC's journalism event.

    Westphal:

  • The Internet Must Not Become a Segregated Community

    Malkia Cyril
    December 1, 2009

    Co-authored with Chris Rabb and Joseph Torres

    When Fox News’ Glenn Beck called President Barack Obama a racist this past July, the online advocacy group ColorOfChange.org launched a campaign to convince advertisers to boycott the show. To date, some 285,000 people have joined the effort, and more than 80 companies have pulled their ads.

  • Preview: Two Days at the FTC Journalism Workshops

    Josh Stearns
    November 30, 2009

    I’m packing my bags and heading down to Washington, D.C. for the Federal Trade Commission’s two-day workshop on the future of journalism. There are bound to be some useful insights regarding what's next for U.S. media, and we’ll try to capture it all for you at SaveTheNews.org, on Twitter or on Facebook.
    Check back for speakers’ remarks, guest blog posts, video interviews and more.

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