There’s little doubt that this is a time of upheaval for the news media. Declining viewership and readership, falling revenues, and lack of trust from the public has most news organizations doing some full-on soul-searching, if not wholesale reorganization. But the news is not all bad. In fact, if you dig a little deeper, you’ll find that some of the new trends in journalism actually provide hope for the news business and the democracy it serves.

Charles Self, Gaylord Chair and Professor at the Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communicatons at the University of Oklahoma sees this as a time of great opportunity for journalists. Technology is expanding the ways media organizations can communicate with citizens, and has allowed those citizens to become more engaged in the communications process.

We didn’t have time to go into all the ways the media are changing, but we can provide some homework for those of you who want to know more. After watching this week’s Oklahoma Forum program, we encourage you to visit the web site of the Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism to read its report on the State of the News Media 2009 and its just-issued study on Understanding the Participatory News Consumer. That report, released March 1, 2010, has some fascinating findings on how “netizens” access their news, and what they like.

Guests on this week’s program, in addition to Self are: Kelly Burley, Director of KOSU Radio; Mark Hanebutt, Professor of Journalism at the University of Central Oklahoma; and Jason Collington, Web Editor of The Tulsa World.

We are always interested in hearing from you. Let us know what you think about our news media. How do you get your news? What most interests you? Do you watch on-line, on-air, or both? Do you read newspapers, and if so, which ones? Join the conversation. That’s another new trend in journalism. Conversation. What a concept!

Until next time,
Dick Pryor

(Pictured above, left to right: Host Dick Pryor, Kelly Burley, Mark Hanebutt, Charles Self.