Internet to Newspapers: Drop Dead

MEMBERS: Please login to register yourself or a colleague by May 14, 2009.
NONMEMBERS: Please fill out this online form by May 14, 2009. (If you have been invited to attend, please indicate "guest" in lieu of payment information.)

Part of Philanthropy New York's Thought Leader series.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND: Program Officers and Directors, Communication staff and Senior Executives.

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION:

Could it possibly be the end of printed news? Is the Fourth Estate in danger of going into foreclosure?

Journals ranging from Time, The New Yorker, The Atlantic and The New Republic to the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times concur on the diagnosis: newspapers, as we have known them, are disintegrating and are possibly on the verge of extinction. Time's Walter Isaacson describes the situation as having "reached meltdown proportions" and concludes, "It is now possible to contemplate a time in the near future when major towns will no longer have a newspaper and when magazines and network news operations will employ no more than a handful of reporters."

--John Nichols & Robert W. McChesney, “The Death and Life of Great American Newspaper,” The Nation

Why?
The obvious answer points to the Internet and all the convenience it offers. But many close observers believe that media companies are also the victims of their own failed strategies, compounded with the affects of our current financial crisis. Whatever the cause, newspaper companies all over the U.S. have downsized their staff, some have gone into bankruptcy and several have shut their doors for good.

Why should we care?
Community leaders and media advocates maintain that the loss of print media presents a fundamental threat to our democracy. How will we deliberate on major policy debates if there is no venue for these debates? At the local, state and national level, a healthy policy process requires a full and open examination of policy options. Equally, a strong and independent press is necessary to prevent corruption in business and government circles.

We invite you to come to a session to hear Steve Coll, President of New America Foundation, and a staff writer at The New Yorker magazine, Nicholas Lemann, Dean and Henry R. Luce Professor at the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University, and Victor Pickard, Senior Research Fellow at the media reform organization, Free Press, provide their theories on the causes of and possible solutions to this timely and critical issue.

PRESENTERS:

• Steve Coll, President of New America Foundation, and a staff writer at The New Yorker magazine
• Nicholas Lemann, Dean and Henry R. Luce Professor, Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University
• Victor Pickard, Senior Research Fellow, Free Press
• Vincent Stehle, Program Director, Surdna Foundation (moderator)

FEE: Free to Philanthropy New York members and invited guests; $100 fee for non-members

OTHER INFORMATION: Please contact register@philanthropynewyork.org with any questions.