Sitting on the floor in the back of the Hussey Room of the Michigan League, I thought to myself wow either the blogosphere is brimming with fans or everyone is just here for extra credit. Whether it was one or the other (or both), I think that Professor Warner's lecture was extraordinarily applicable to me as, as a Communications major and someone with a future career in advertising. I found Ms. Warner especially intuitive, but I think part of that opinion stems from previous lecturers she has given. 
Last year, I had taken a class with Fara on Trends in Journalism, and in our first class meeting we spent an hour and a half discussing Paris Hilton. Ms. Warner knows that the future of journalism is not in one area (i.e. straight news) but it is in gossip entertainment, because Ms. Hilton makes it that way. Paris Hilton is a marketing genius, who has the media wrapped around her "thats just so hot" finger. She uses her celebrity to make money, and gives into the paparazzi (she actually give them a list of her day-to-day itineraries). Professor Warner allowed our class to learn about Journalism (how to write a newspaper article, marketing pitch, and press release) but she also facilitated a course that was immersed in today's world of Journalism, marketing, and advertising. Journalism has evolved into a new form, one in which in includes stories on Paris Hilton of course. Ms. Warner, continued her argument in her lecture this past Wednesday. Although she didn't talk about Paris, her discussion certainly was focused on the future of Journalism.
The future of journalism is in new media,
specifically in blogging, social networking sites, and websites that seek out journalists (such as www.spotus.com). Why? Because newspapers are seeing a serious decline in readership, and an even more sharp decline in advertising revenue. The new breed of journalism lives in the new age of Internet portals. But, as Fara warns, although thousands of new blogs have been created within the past 5 years or so, Journalists have been fairly unsuccessful in profiting off of the new format. There needs to be a new business plan, for Journalism to thrive, but it seems that nobody has yet found the magic solution to the problem. Yes it is known that new media is where the audiences are at, but how do you make money off of that?
On Thursday, The Daily wrote a review of Professor Warner's lecture. Ironically, I began my blog with the same opening line: ...."in the Hussey room of the Michigan League." Annie Thomas, who authored the article, summarized Ms. Warner's lecture as "optimistic," despite Journalists continuing to lose their jobs. Ms. Thomas' article is totally unlike mine. Hers includes quotes, mine is absent of them. Her article is available in print, and mine is only available online. (the differences continue on....)
But yet that is exact point of new media. It is supposed to bring a new future to Journalism, and I happy to say that I am contributing to that transformation. Ms. Thomas' article is perfectly written (and mine is probably not so perfectly written) but who cares, because my blog is also available to whomever wants to read it, and that is pretty cool!
images retrieved from:
Fara Warner: http://www.michigandaily.com/files/blog. jpg
Paris Hilton: http://www. bbc.co.uk/blogs/aceandvis/paris-hilton-001.jpg
Dollar sign: htttp://www.spahp2.creighton.edu/oasa/Leadership.aspx
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