The Low-Down on the Town Hall Meeting

A group of 11 esteemed professionals in the news industry gathered for a Town Hall style panel as part of the daylong Millennials and News Summit on Nov.11 to discuss the challenges and future of journalism and journalism education. While most of the panelists agree that there is a problem with news consumption among Millennials, there was disagreement about the extent of the problem.

“We need to do a better job and stop treating them [Millennials] like citizens “lite,”’ said Tim Lott, Vice President of Audience Strategy at the Austin-American Statesman.

Patti Smith, President of KVUE-TV, disagreed, stating that it was less about the content, and more about delivery when it comes youth audiences. “The day the shooter was on UT, we did 79000 streams of coverage. When the news is important, they’ll come to it. We can make it engaging, but it is much more about the vehicle we are using.”

According to Wanda Cash, Associate Director of UT School of Journalism, a possible solution to the problem is to focus more on getting the attention of millennials.

“If you look at news from twenty years ago and today, you realize that not much as change. Why don’t we innovate?” suggested Talia Stroud of the Annette Strauss Institute for Civic Participation.

Guest speakers include:
Patti Smith, President and General Manager, KVUE-TV (ABC Affiliate)
Tim Lott, VP, Audience Strategy, Austin American-Statesman
Ken Whalen, Executive Vice President, TDNA (Texas Daily Newspaper Association)
Kevin Benz, News Director, News 8 Austin
Emily Donohue, News Director, KUT Radio 90.5
Talia Stroud, Asst. Director, Annette Strauss Institute for Civic Participation
Wanda Cash, Associate Director, UT School of Journalism
Tracy Dahlby, Founder, Reporting Texas, UT School of Journalism
Jacie Yang, Texas State Journalism Professor and Smartphones & News Consumption Expert
Omar Gallaga, Statesman Tech Culture Journalist; Contributor, NPR’s All Tech Considered
Elise Hu, Texas Tribune political reporter who focuses on multimedia projects.

Click here to watch the video.

Where do Wave I & II Millennials get their news from?

Kopia has compiled some You Tube videos that show the kind of media outlets that Wave I and Wave II millennials rely on. I think he's dead right: millennials don't depend on regular oulets like CNN or ABC news anymore. Their news sources are instantaneous, community sharing based, and viral. Whether it be YouTube, Facebook or Twitter, millennials have found another way to share news.

What's even more interesting is that millennials might not even have to search for news as much as before. If they are getting their news from Facebook or Twitter, it comes to them from their friends.

Here is another video I found really, really interesting. The facts are incredible (and a bit scary).

Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down

Here's a link to Dan's opinions on articles that he gives a thumbs up or down. Some of the articles are a bit appalling in their portrayal of the millennials.

Hope everyone is enjoying this weather we're having in Austin today!

Recommendations

Recommendations: Creating a forum tab

In my opinion, an important aspect in the formation of the millennial website is the creation of a forum tab.

The forum tab would serve as the voice of millennials, their opinions, ideas, and thoughts. It shouldn’t be restricted to any particular subject, but rather it should be organized into specific sub categories where users can contribute their opinions and ideas. Inside these sub forums, it would be beneficial to include all the latest articles, research, and statistics, all of which can be commented on by the users of the site. For example, millennials and radio,millennials and tv,millennials and social networking, millennials currently working in the national media, The media’s relations ship with social networking, etc… Such topics can be raised as separate issues on different tabs on the forum page, where articles of relevance to the aforementioned topics can be posted, and commented on by the users. Millennials should also be encouraged to raise their own questions and find their own answers inside of these forums. These questions and opinions can possibly be taken to professionals in the media, who can answer them and reflect on the opinions of these millennial voices.

The forum can also be used as a means for polling of millennials. In doing so, the opinions and ideas of these millennial voices can be backed by numbers and statistics to be presented to media organizations. Such a tool can be quite useful in establishing a case for the necessity and the urgency of change in the relationship between millennials and the media. Forums can provide the ground for users to discuss what in their opinion can be identified as the most important subject in the relationship between the media and millennials. The website as the main voice of millennials, can then focus on those pressing issues, by finding articles, doing research, taking polls, and talking with media professionals.

In conclusion, there seems to be a disconnect between the media and the millennial generation. The media views this generation as somehow unimportant and powerless. This view can be detected by the way the media covers and talks about millennial generation, thus creating a divide and tension. The millennial website and more specifically the forum tab can provide a middle ground, a connection between the public and the decision makers. The website can be a voice representing the millennial generation to the media, but its also a way for the media to communicate and reestablish the importance of this demographic to it. In so doing, the millennial website can play a role in the continuation and strengthening of American democracy and freedom.

Millennial Voices on the News

On Thursday Nov. 11, Journalism professor Paula Poindexter invited scholars, journalists, and Millennials to speak at the “Millennials and News Summit.” The Summit is a part of her Journalism, Society, and the Citizen Journalist class which she developed for the Carnegie Corporation of New York Initiative on the Future of Journalism Education. The guests convened to discuss the repercussions of the Millennial generation not consuming the news.

Millennials are the generation born between the early '80s and '90s. They are characterized as digital natives who are constantly connected and ready to consume information day and night.

In attendance to represent the Millennial generation were six students from Poindexter’s “Jounalism, Society, and the Citizen Journalist” class. The students, nominated by their peers, were Jena Cuellar, 
Thu Pham
, James Whitely, 
Ashley Jennings
, Doug Luippold, and Andrew Moore.

Poindexter sparked the discussion by asking the student panel, “What is the media doing right?” Most of the students agreed that the media has done well to make news accessible through a variety of mediums. Panel member, Pham, said that the news has involved themselves in social networks such as Facebook and Twitter which has grabbed the attention of Millennials.

There was a positive and negative feedback from the scholars and journalists in the audience. Peter Levine, director of The Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning & Engagement at Tufts University was not sold on the idea that articles written in the paper were belittling to Millennials. Jennings explained, that it is not what the newspapers say but rather, how they say it. Others, like Amy Zerba, an expert on young adults and news and former producer of CNN online, was interested in the panel’s opinions on how the media could improve.

The insight of the Millennial panel gave the audience a better understanding of how their generation perceives the media as well as how they obtain the news from a variety of sources. The panel was sure to inform the audience that their generation is interested in the news, they just receive it in different forms.

Click here to watch the video.

What do Citizen Journalist do?

Hello World: My name is Bugatti Longhorn and I will show you what Citizen Journalist do.

All you have to do is follow my steps
WARNING! Following these steps incorrectly could have catastrophic effects the MEDIA

1. First, you must be a living person with a heartbeat and a pulse
2. Second you must have the ability to collect information and report it
3. Third, you must be a scrupulous individual when reporting your information
4. Fourth, you cannot be a professional journalist
5. Fifth , you deliver your evidence or story to the media

These are the five steps to what a Citizen Journalist do on a daily basis.


Now I will provide you with key examples of people who have properly exemplify the job position of a citizen journalist.

Abraham Zapruder was a citizen filming John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963 during the time he was shot. He unexpectedly captured the footage of President's assassination on what became known as the Zapruder Film. Zapruder film footage provided the news media with coverage of the Kennedy assassination. Abraham Zapruder could be used as a key example of what do Citizen Journalist do.

Journalist + Blogger=....Jogger?!

It seems as though the infamous journalist vs blogger wrestling match has ceased fire, according to a simple Google search I did that led me to 10 links stating so. After my interview with Professor Alves, I left with the impression that the line between journalist and blogger is blurring. He stated the example of how the NYTimes recently hired a blogger to work under their umbrella. I also recently read an article about how bloggers are now hiring traditional reporters.

And I can see how we've come to this point. In the beginning of the blogging age, journalists were probably peeved that there were untrained people thinking they knew how to do the job of someone who went to school. Especially when you have the bloggers who like to call bs on the media. But I think as time progressed, they grudgingly had to accept the fact that 1) some bloggers have a point and 2) joining forces with them was better than going against them. Especially when you have blogs with a devoted audience.

It's more difficult to distinguish the two today. The NYTimes has over 100 blogs: some belong to their hired reporters and some who started off as citizen journalists. I think that in about a couple of years, we won't question the distinction between the two because they will have become so intertwined in immersed in each other's little bubble of existence that they will just be called journalism.

Thoughts?