CIAO DATE: 07/2010
May 2010
The idea of convening a forum to seriously examine the need to save American journalism would have been unthinkable just a few years ago. But in August 2009, the conversation seemed timely and urgent. The Aspen Institute 2009 Forum on Communications and Society (FOCAS) convened in mid-August, just as the Knight Commission on the Information Needs of Communities in a Democracy was finalizing its report. Members of the Commission met with attendees of FOCAS, and it was clear that the Commission report would sound an alarm about the future of journalism. Indeed, when the Commission report was released in October, it concluded: “The current financial challenges facing private news media could pose a crisis for democracy.” While the Commission report addressed the information needs of communities broadly, journalism is an important, centralizing element. The report states: Local journalistic institutions that have traditionally served democracy by promoting values of openness, accountability, and public engagement are themselves in crisis from financial, technological, and behavioral changes taking place in our society. Even before the 2008 recession, many news organizations faced shrinking audiences and declining advertising revenue. With the recession, they are struggling even more. There is plainly reason to be anxious about the consequences for local journalism, and therefore for local democratic governance.1 The Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism expressed similar concern in its 2009 State of the News Media Report: “This is the sixth edition of our annual report on the State of the News Media in the United States. It is also the bleakest…. By our calculations, nearly one out of every five journalists working for newspapers in 2001 is now gone, and 2009 may be the worst year yet.”2 4 Of the Press: Models for Transforming American Journalism In July, the Congressional Research Service reported: “The U.S. newspaper industry is suffering through what could be its worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.… As the problems intensify, there are growing concerns that the rapid decline of the newspaper industry will impact civic and social life.”3 Against this backdrop, the Aspen Institute convened more than 40 news, business, education, non-profit and foundation leaders to explore new models for preserving American journalism. What new models will best support the journalism necessary for the public good? Charles Firestone, executive director of the Aspen Institute Communications and Society Program, explained, “Our aim is to preserve or enhance journalism itself, not any particular form of business that practices it today.”
Resource link: Of the Press: Models for Transforming American Journalism [PDF] - 444K