After considering the significant changes in technology and new media over the last year, this report poses the question:
“Does the [news media] industry have a vision that is bold enough, and does it have leaders whom journalists and audiences will follow?”
I doubt it does. In April 2007 I attended the NAB conference in Las Vegas as a production intern. Through my internship I was able to hear every keynote and featured speaker, and was struck by a trend: broadcasting industry higher-ups are drastically behind the average college student when it comes to new media technology. This may not sound like a big shocker, but the general air with which these influential people spoke was one of hesitation and anxiety. The most forward-thinking speaker I can remember was Eric Schmidt, the CEO of Google, and even he spent a good chunk of time talking about advertising instead of content.
While American broadcasting is dragging its feet getting into “bold”, new media, it seems that print media is doing a bit better. Many (if not most) newspapers and magazines are represented online with sites that integrate newer trends such as rss feeds and mobile editions. Video is even showing up on newspaper websites, which is something the NAB should definitely be paying attention to.
