RTNDA welcomes the new world
Three years ago, I wrote that the RTNDA was “asleep inside the box” and took them to task for not paying attention to what seemed obvious (to me anyway) as important issues. Here’s some of that entry:
If the organization representing radio and television news directors won’t look at reality, how on earth can news people expect their corporate owners to do so? By ignoring the truths of a worrisome future, audience fragmentation, disruptive innovations, shrinking or closing newsrooms, newspapers providing video, clear warnings from business analysts, citizen journalism, viewer distrust, and other issues directly impacting the industry, the RTNDA is guilty of, to be kind, public masturbation, and in so doing, it does a disservice to its members that borders on malfeasance.
As you can imagine, this didn’t win me a lot of friends.
I hope I’ve mellowed a bit, but the message seems to have resonated (or perhaps life has intervened), because the opening session was a vigorous discussion of new media with a lot of great insight, a bit of outsight, and a cast of characters (self included) that wouldn’t have even been recognized at previous gatherings. This is to the credit of the organization and especially the work of Lane Beauchamp, Chip Mahaney and others, who’ve organized an event filled with kinds of things we really need to be talking about. Better late than never, and my hat’s off to Lane, Chip, Angie and the whole gang.
I’ll leave the analysis of the opening session to others, but the message was clearly one of change. Most on the panel called it “evolutionary.” I used the word “revolution,” and the inimitable Michael Rosenblum said we need to burn old media to the ground.
I was star struck being with Amanda Congden (disclosure: I’ve been in love with her for years. Sadly, she brought her boyfriend with her) and Zadi Diaz. Zadi is on her way to web stardom, and it couldn’t happen to a nicer, more pleasant person. It’s always fun to be on a stage with Michael, and Miles O’Brien was simply the best moderator I’ve ever worked with.
Miles lost his anchor job with CNN a week ago, and it will turn out to be the best thing that ever happened to him. He’s now thrust into a world where the stories that matter (to people) occur — chief technology correspondent. He’s a sponge right now, but mark my words, he will lead that network (or another) into coverage of how technology is empowering the people formerly known as the audience.
