A few weeks ago, Duke University's Sanford Institute of Public Policy convened a small group to explore nonprofit media ownership models.

Knight Foundation's Director of Evaluation Mayur Patel spoke with Stanford Knight Fellow Andrew Haeg about networks, philanthropy, and assets:

Do you agree that networks of people are as valuable as traditional financial assets?
How do you think philanthropies and nonprofits could best nurture these assets if so?

On Monday night, ICFJ (International Center for Journalists) hosted an event at Hearst Tower on the future of news. Below, video from the panel discussion moderated by Harry Smith, who anchors "The Early Show" on CBS News.

Editor of Time International Michael Elliott feels that we are "in the middle of a revolution" in news; "some of it will be paid for in ways that we haven't yet figured out."

Dean of the LSU Manship School of Mass Communications John Hamilton reminded the room the idea of professional journalists is about a century old; "what we're moving into now...is a world in which we have multiple models of what constitutes reporting."

Founder and Editor-at-Large of Public Affairs Peter Osnos argued that "there will be newspapers because communities will figure out a way to support them...traditional media will have a place--humbler, smaller. It's painful, it's not over, but somehow it will endure."

Webbmedia Group Digital Media Consultant Amy Webb feels the current situation is not a revolution, but "an inevitable continuation of the way that we interact with each other...much more dependent on platform."

(At the end of this clip, Smith asks who is going to report and who will hire the reporters; Osnos responds by citing the "new models" of Politico, ProPublica, and MinnPost.)

Thoughts on the panelists' arguments? Do you think the current state of journalism is part of a revolution? A "natural continuation"?

At the end of this video from the White House Correspondents' Dinner last Saturday, the President talks about the current state of journalism and its importance (starts around 12:19):

The President Gets Laughs at the White House Correspondents' Dinner from White House on Vimeo.

 

Thoughts on the speech?