Seasoned veterans of the media recently took part in a panel at the Department of Communication’s symposium on “The Future of Print Journalism in Canada.”
The panel was filmed by CPAC and moderated by the popular host Talk Politics Ken Rockburn. It featured current Ottawa Citizen editor-in-chief Scott Anderson and former editor Russell Mills, who is now dean of the School of Media and Design at Algonquin College. They were joined by John Geddes of Maclean’s magazine and Paul Samyn of the Winnipeg Free Press.
Sawyn expressed doubt that the Internet was posing a threat to Canadian newspapers, and questioned whether many Canadians were actually rushing to their computer screens to get their news. “There’s something about a newspaper,” pronounced Samyn.“People clip things out, they post them on their fridge.It’s harder to do that on television. It just doesn’t translate.”
John Geddes defended the Internet’s credibility. Online news sites can be up to the minute and accurate, he said, but they often have problems with “chattiness and gossipiness.”
Speak Out: Tell us what you think about this subject.
“Somehow publishers need to find out how to make the Internet a business,” Mills said. “And nobody’s figured that out yet.”
Rockburn asked if there truly was “more weight” given to the printed word in comparison to the digital and broadcast word. In reply, Anderson said that, “the printed word continues to reinforce the story.”
“This is the golden age of print,” he added. “There have never been more newspapers being sold in the history of humankind.”
The symposium panel discussion will be aired on CPAC.
