Change is gonna come...

Last week I attended several panels and speakers during the Schuneman Symposium, all of which affirmed what I already know to be true about the media world: Change is on its way, and for the most part, change is already happening. As someone who has been trying to explain the death of newspapers to my lo-tech parents for months, I was most interested in attending the Traditional Media vs. New Media panel. It also helped that one of my favorite media professionals ever, Bob Benz, was a member of the panel. My interest was peaked and the panel delivered.

Looking over my notes from the session, I jump from topics including personal branding and an entrepreneurial approach to journalism, political campaigns not needing the media as much now that social media tools exist more ubiquitously, the precision of the Internet, and of course, the major problems with the journalism business model online. All of these are hefty topics, so I've come up with a list of related research ideas that are a bit more focused.

1. Why is does it have to be traditional media versus new media? Don't both forms of media benefit from the existence of each other? For example, new media (in the form of blogs) depends on the newsgathering capabilities of traditional media (such as newspapers). What is the effect on blogs, which often point to newspapers and even magazines for sources, if traditional media is "dying"? <--- This is a question I posed to the panel during the Q&A session, and the answer I got was essentially, many traditional media outlets screwed themselves by bucking new media and by having a negative attitude toward it.

2. Does the niche nature of the internet segregate readers to a fault? Are some online news consumers surpassing general news coverage ("current events"-type coverage) because they have the option to consume only the specialty news they desire (such as sports or entertainment coverage)? What kind of news consumers is the niche nature of online journalism breeding?

3. Money-making in the blogosphere. Does ad revenue correlate with perceived credibility from readers?

4. Magazines online vs. newspapers online -- exploring which suffers more from giving away content online for free. In what ways is the issue of free content online different on magazine Web sites versus newspaper sites?

5. The new role of journalists online: Standing out among Web "shit." How is legacy media credibility maintained in a media organization's online presence when it is put on what some might call a more level playing field as self-publishers?

6. Does branding surpass "good" reporting skills in terms of importance for journalists trying to create an online presence?

I would also like to point out a quote uttered during the Traditional Media vs. New Media panel. I can't remember which panelist said it, but I copied it down verbatim:

"The future of the newspaper market depends on if and how new business models emerge that use the internet as their main source of revenue."

Couldn't have said it better myself.

Change has already happened and now we must react to it. If not, prepare to die, media world.