MMMM # 510 ---A New/Old Media Experiment.

     Let's face it, nobody really knows the end result of the digital media tsunami. 
     All of the old media has been turned on its head...and much of the new media that is attempting to replace it is mostly doing so pro-Bono.

     I visited the Journalism Department at The University of Florida in Gainsville last week, and found  their Innovation News Center experimenting with a merger of new and old media. It is run by a cadre of journalism pros....radio, TV, print, online...a mix that is reflected in the Center's goal of making them all play nicely to produce a truly new media product.

Gary Green is the Digital Director. He showed me around and even put up with my stream of questions and comments. 
     The department has a half dozen broadcast properties under its umbrella, including
WUFT-TV, WUFT-FM 89.1, ESPN 850 WRUF, Country 103.7 the Gator, WUFT-TV 6, wuft.org and other websites.

     The woman who hired me at Alabama Public Television almost 20 years ago has just retired from UF, though Johanna Cleary will be teaching a class here and there. She accompanied me on my tour.

   

  The center includes traditional media like TV, and social media like the anonymous messaging service Yik Yak too. The challenge for Green and others is to merge the new and old, the familiar and the sometimes unheard of.

     What kind of media will consumers be using to "get the news" a decade from now when today's students at UF are, at least in theory, deep into their careers?
     And will that media be both open enough the allow more voices to be heard, while creating accurate and fair content that those consumers will want?
     Those are the questions the center will be grappling with as they both guide current students to careers and prepare for new students, some of whom  will have never seen a TV Newscast, held a printed newspaper, or been without a mobile news machine.  

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PLUS: 30 great "cranky" gems of journalism wisdom from Poynter in an article posted last week. One of my favorites:

#9. If they like you, you’re doing something wrong.
Respect, yes. Perhaps a bit of fear. But if you are considered a pal, you’ve breached what Walter Lippmann described as ‘air space,’ the distance that should be maintained between the reporter and the source.

AND: wanna be landlord to a major newspaper and broadcaster? The building that is home to The Chicago Tribune and WGN TV and Radio is for sale. The property is is expected to fetch $100 Million, or more!

 

Join me, Olivea Deas and Elissia Wilson this Monday morning starting at 5:00 AM on CBS 8 or ABC Montgomery, or online at http://www.alabamanews.net/live.

[The Monday Morning Media Memo is a regular feature of TimLennox.com.]