The discussion group consisted of Kerry Lauerman, the news projects editor at Salon Media Group; Frank Rose, a contributing editor of Wired magazine; Neda Ulaby, a reporter on arts and culture for National Public Radio; and Jeffrey Young, a senior writer at the Chronicle of Higher Education. Associate Dean for the Arts and Humanities Kate Conley moderated the event.
The speakers also spoke about how the internet has democratized communication and the future of both print and electronic media.
The speakers and questioners drew a contrast between the chaotic free-for-all of the internet, where anyone with a computer can share an opinion, and the bygone era of a more uniform media. For the most part, the speakers came down strongly on the side of today's model.
"We don't live in that world anymore," Rose said, referring to the conformist culture of the 1950s. "I see very little reason to be nostalgic for it."
The panel also discussed how the democratization of information has given consumers more power to choose their news sources. As a result, though, it has led readers to look only at the opinions with which they agree.
"We tend to consume media when we want to, instead of at 6:30 when Katie Couric or whatever comes on," Lauerman said.
Traditional journalism has had to adapt to the internet, the panelists said, revealing how the industry has changed to compete with user-generated content. Referring to his own experience, Young talked about how news sites like the Chronicle for Higher Education have adopted blogs and user feedback, but are hampered by the need to actually check their facts before posting. Ulaby mentioned that in the entertainment sector, television and film companies are terrified that peer sharing will condemn them to the same fate as the recording industry, which faces rampant piracy problems. To avoid losing revenue, they have turned to advertising to make money off of the free content they provide.
Despite competition from free content, investigative reporting will always be integral to the news business, Lauerman said.
"It's not a money-losing proposition to break big news," he said, "It never will be."
In addition to technology's effect on media, the panel also considered its effect on daily life.
Ulaby, who began working in radio when workers had to painstakingly put together physical tape in order to create a program, said it still takes just as long today because the recorders have so many high-tech tools to manipulate the sound. The other panelists returned to this theme in their descriptions of how technology dictates their lives. Young recalled sitting in the middle of a good movie, but becoming unable to concentrate partway through because he was so used to multitasking.
Frank pointed out that relying too much on new technology can blind people to common sense solutions. He told the story of a photo editor who had waited three weeks for an e-mail when a simple five-minute phone call was all that was needed.
This reliance on technology has led to a very different concept of privacy in the internet generation, Ulaby said, but qualified her opinion by recalling the words of a friend of hers at the National Security Agency.
You might as well send us a naked picture, her friend had told her, because the NSA knows everything else about you, Ulaby said.
The discussion, held in Silsby Hall, was sponsored by Dartmouth's Office of Public Affairs.
