"State of the News Business 2005" a Resounding Success!

Last night's program, "Breaking News, Can it be Fixed? State of the News Business 2005" was a great success. Over 150 people attended to hear the thoughts and predictions of several high-power people in the news industry. The program was filled with excellent information and interaction between panel members and audience members.

And what a day it was for a discussion of breaking news! LA had experienced a wide-spread power outage earlier in the day, so the panel had a lot to talk about in terms of breaking news. What stood out as the common theme was the importance of staying on top of the situation, maintaining journalistic standards, and delivering helpful, credible information to the public as quickly as possible.

Frank Mottek of KNX and KTLA put together a top panel and led them through the discussion expertly.

Panel:

• Judy Muller; ABC news, NPR, and USC.
• Paula Madison; President & GM of KNBC-TV.
• Ed Pyle; news director of KNX.
• Bill Tanner; Executive VP, Spanish Broadcasting System
• Jeff Wald; news director of KTLA-TV.

Kudos to Frank and his panelists. The audience was a mix of students, news anchors, working reporters, and front office people.


Some of the questions that were answered were:

• Should broadcast news move more toward "entertainment", similar to what MTV does?
• Given the lack of information (initially) from the power company during today's blackout, what are some good ways to improve the info-sharing relationships with PIOs?
• What specific steps can broadcast news take to capture the interest and loyalty of the 18 - 30 year old demographic?

Many thanks to the panel members for taking the time out of their busy schedules to share their words of wisdom. Special thanks to Frank Mottek for pulling together such a great program, and thanks to USC for hosting the event. And finally, thanks to all the attendees for joining us. We'll see you next year!