NAB: The Shape of Things to Come

The NAB pannel "The Shape of Things to Come," must have been really interesting.

From the NAB site:

"Newsroom luminaries share their thoughts on the myriad issues that must be examined as station executives develop their long-range plans and make capital equipment investments. There is no easy answer. Come voice your opinion and share your experience at this important town hall meeting produced by RTNDA and NAB.

Moderator
John Seigenthaler, Anchor and Correspondent, NBC & MSNBC, New York, NY

Panelists

• Tom Curley, President and CEO, Associated Press, Washington, DC
• Marissa Mayer, Vice President, Search Products and User Experience, Google, Mountain View, CA
• Harvey Nagler, Vice President, CBS Radio, New York, NY
• Jorge Ramos, Co-Anchor, Noticiero Univision, Miami, FL
• Dan Rather, Former Anchor and Managing Editor, CBS Evening News, New York, NY
• Fred Young, Senior Vice President News, Hearst-Argyle Television, New York, NY"

From Lost Remote:

" I have to say I'm stunned after attending the last panel, "The Shape of Things to Come." After all, wasn't the panel designed to discuss the future of news? Well, they took a big leap back to the past by criticizing blogging and questioning the credibility of Google News. I may get in trouble for writing this, but when you want innovative ideas that define the next generation of news, don't bring in a panel of broadcasting veterans to talk about it.

If this is "The Shape of Things to Come," then TV news is in for a very rude awakening. Journalists need to stop questioning the credibility of everyone else and start INVOLVING YOUR AUDIENCE. The very fact that user-generated content -- one of the future pillars of journalism -- was not broached by anyone on the panel except for a Google VP is very telling.

I'll close with this. If this panel was any indication, I'm very skeptical that the broadcasting news industry will innovate the ideas needed to save it. Not as long as they continue to argue about the ethics of this and that. Stop arguing, start experimenting. Empower the most innovative people in your company with the resources to try something new. Or watch as your budget evaporates with your audience and you're left with nothing more than a teleprompter. "

From PaidContent:

"Curley was asked by moderator John Siegenthaler, the NBC/MSNBC anchor, if AP would consider going directly to consumers .

Curley emphatically replied, “No. We’re a business-to-business model and we’re going to stay there. I have $700 million in revenue and an organization/staff set up to take care of that $700 million and to try to switch to another model doesn’t make any sense. I think the last thing the world needs is someone else out there trying to create another destination site. One of our competitors famously tried that about 18 months ago. … ”