For the third and final time, the Federal Trade Commission will convene a panel of experts from various disciplines to discuss how journalism can continue to fulfill its role of informing the public in a competitive environment changed forever by the advent of the internet.
The next session will be held at the National Press Club in Washington DC on 6/15/10. The agenda is not yet available.
“Consumers are increasingly turning to the Internet for news and information. Advertisers are moving ads to online sites and scaling back on ad buys as a result of the recession, and news organizations are struggling with large debts they took on during better times,” said the FTC in explaining the purpose of the workshop. “As a result, some are questioning how journalism can survive and thrive in the future.
FTC said, “At the June 15 workshop, a small group of experienced journalists, publishers, academics, economists, and other policy experts will compare, contrast, and evaluate the ideas for sustaining journalism that have been set forth in two previous FTC workshops and in a wide variety of reports and conferences. This discussion will help inform potential recommendations to be contained in a report the FTC will release later this fall.”
