julianna >> paul ryan told senior said it ordered a time in the lives they have nothing to fear if the republican ticket wins the white house. he was campaigning with his 78- year-old mother and told retire read the republicans offer the best hope for keeping medicare and social security solvent. you can watch his comments tonight at eastern. that is followed by president obama in new hampshire. that is tonight at 9:45 eastern. republicans meet monday to begin choosing the party's priorities for the next four years. we will have live coverage of monday as a session beginning at 1:00 the east and 3 6:00 eastern and again tuesday, beginning at 8:00 a.m. eastern. you can also by the events on c-

span.org. >> journalist and community organizer jordan flaherty wrote about the case of six black teenagers convicted of beating a white student in louisiana in 2006. he is currently covering egypt for al jazeera. he delivered the keynote address at the world affairs council of new orleans annual dinner he talked about the future of journalism in the united states. this is about an hour. >> i am going to take my name tag off. and introduce to you tonight jordan flaherty. he is a journalist and community organizer in new orleans. if he looks familiar, he has appeared on much of the internet media coming tonight. he has appeared on steve 19 -- cnn and keep hope alive.

was the first journalists to write about the jena six case from about four years ago. bringing the case to international attention. he was also -- his post katrina writing in colorlines magazine shared id journalism award for best katrina coverage in the ethnic press. he is produced segments for al jazeera, democracy now and other news organizations. he is particularly qualified to discuss the topics of tonight, digital activism, and resistance in media from new orleans to egypt to occupy. jordan flaherty is the author of a new book, "floodlines: community and resistance from katrina to the jena six."

please join me in welcoming to the world affairs council mr. jordan flaherty. [applause] >> thank you very much. thank you, everyone. it is an honor to be here. i want to especially thank the board and staff with the world affairs council for making this happen. can people hear me ok? i have a double microphone going on here. it is important that an organization like this exist to have these dialogues in the city. we have such an incredibly lively culture in the city that sometimes we do not get to think about the issues outside the city and it is important to have been used with these issues can

be discussed. the world outside the new orleans need to learn more about new orleans. all of us as committee members of the to the greater new orleans area contribute to creating this culture that i think people from the -- from around the country have a lot to learn from. everyone has been fighting through hurricane katrina and the bp disaster and still fighting to keep this disaster alive. i came into journalism in a different way. i did not go to journalism school. used to work as a union organizer and a move to new orleans a few years before hurricane katrina. when it happened, i was living in the tremaine neighborhood --

treme neighborhood. is that better? thank you, sorry. and evacuating a few days after the storm. when i evacuate it, what i saw really affected me to this day which was the way many people were being treated upon evacuation, especially african- americans from new orleans. i went through the evacuate camp at 1-10 and when i got outside the city and saw how the city was being treated in the media and how the people were being depicted in the media, i thought so much was missing from that. i wrote a letter to friends about the city i had come to know in the previous two years and what i had seen in those previous days as i evacuate.

that e-mail that i sent out and deducting forward it around and re-for it and was translated into several languages, published in publications around the world, was on websites. i started receiving feedback from people i really respected here in new orleans that this was something i could do that would be useful to the city to tell these stories of people who were fighting for rebuilding with justice. over these past several years, i have tried to find a way to learn how to do in journalism that is useful to the people of new orleans and to communities in a way that is accountable for the truth and also to this community that i'm from. this idea of accountability is something that is in the roots of journalism but is often missing today. this idea of being accountable to the truth and your community. that is up internal the need to learn -- that is something journalism needs to learn.

when i talk about media, people talk about the mainstream media as opposed to alternative media and i think as boundaries are less important today. all media is mainstream media. you give a 14-year-old with a blog and it can be seen by millions of people. there is incredible level of distrust of or what this team -- over what is seen as the hinchey media. at these boundaries are breaking down. it is more useful to look at this label people use of corporate media versus not corporate media. i think it is important to keep it that the mind who the media is accountable to. some of the media as accountable to the states that fund it. you can sum up to that about al jazeera and rtv or cctv from

china. other media is more accountable to their advertisers. if not to build a value judgment -- it is not to build a value judgment against it but it is important to think about who that media is accountable to, with the funding comes from and what that means. there is often -- also listeners supported media, npr and other independent radio stations and sources of media. this funding is often not talk about. there are other barriers than that. that. people talk about the new influence of social media as an important force in world affairs today.

people talk about the recent movement in the middle east, the revolution in egypt. i was fortunate enough last year shortly after the revolution and that it needed to speak to a lot of people on the ground, including some of these bloggers active in organizing and getting the word out. i asked for their thoughts on what they thought the meaning of social media had been in those struggles. i wrote a couple of notes on that i want to read. at that was interesting in this context. -- i thought it was interesting in this context. i talked to a woman, an activist ger andcker -- and bloge which thought of such a media. she said there are some -- there is important to that but one thing people do not talk about is the importance of soccer

hooligans. she said they could light a fire in three seconds which engineers say is very impressive and useful to our movement. more importantly, they could tell 5 provocateurs and police informants in the crowd. that was very helpful to people organizing in tharir square. -- tahrir square. the two also said unions were important. important. it is important to think about this force is on the ground. one thing that was very important was tunisia and that often gets forgotten about. his inspiration of tunisia. these moments in time, whether

it is tunisia, egypt, the occupy movement in the u.s., they serve as important for actions -- as important functions of breaking the spell. but they aren't living at the end of history. the idea that change cannot happen. that we are stuck with whatever system we have, with whatever leader we have. in these moments with the spell was broken and you find out that a mass movement can change things. things. it also breaks the light of this great man theory of history. this idea that martin luther king or john f. kennedy jr. is responsible for the civil-rights movement. that is one person and that it ignores the masses of people. the fact that there is no one person in egypt, no one person and that the tunisia, of course we know of certain key figures in both those cases but this idea that there is a mass of people coming together. that is so important to be aware of that and open to that.

and to hold on to these moments that open us up to looking at history in a different way. another person i talked to was an activist and blogger. he made the point that there are 12 million protesters that brought on line, that did not have internet access -- that were not online, that did not have internet access. he said people would post news about a protest on facebook and then the newspaper's and al jazeera tv would say these people posted on facebook. so all of these people that were not online but seeing the television or the newspaper were getting this report. and facebook gets the credit. but ignoring his more traditional, older media that actually got that word out to a lot more people. he said in a general that al

jazeera was an important force in getting the word out and that over the years of drinking a certain silence that was in the media in the middle east. ing a surge ineaknig violence that was in the media in the middle east. probably none of us want to live in a city that does not have a daily paper. and what the loss means. i think we also have to look at it in this longer chain of events of the fact that there used to be to newspapers and many cities in this country had 4, 5, or six daily papers. that collapse has happened. also the collapse of a more

independent media, especially in new orleans and around this country, i really strong african-american media. i think those that are fighting right now for that times picayune that live here a long time and cannot make noise when louisiana quickly started losing their staff -- louisiana weekly started losing their staff. we need to ask why. that has been supported. there is an article just a few months ago in columbia journalism review talking about the continual lack of diversity in daily papers around the u.s. they give this history of about before 1968, it would be very hard to find any people of color reporters at almost any newspaper in the u.s.

they spoke to many of the longtime black reporters at these papers and many said they could remember of the riot that caused them to be hired. so there were these riots in the late 1960's and early 1970's in every city and there would be a riot in the newspaper would say we do not understand where this wright came from a better balk -- be better hire someone from this community to report on it. they were caught blind by the changes. i think that that's why we need this diversity in media. it is not just because it is the right thing to do. the media cannot report correctly if it does not have voices from the community. molpus colombia internal the review article went on to say -- what this columbia journalism review article went on to say is that many journalism's continue to have this issue of a lack of diversity. they interviewed one person who

was in an editorial meeting at the houston chronicle and said there was one person of color among their whole -- in that meeting. so this is a prominent issue continued to play these papers. in a city like new orleans, it is around 50% african-american. we need to really fight for media that represents the whole city. not just because it is the right thing to do but because it makes for better media. i do not want to give the impression that his identity is the only thing. there are many clear example of people who are not from a community that are able to do great -- great reporting from that community. but it absolutely helps to have the representation from different communities and it does make the journal some stronger. when we look of the potential loss of the times picayune, we

need to look at it in this overall crisis. how to make all of our reporting better -- how can we make all of our reporting better and be more accountable? often in the context of some of these other post-katrina changes. people have not talked about it in the context of the changes in the public-school system which some are very por, some are against. these changes happen without consulting the parents, students, teachers in the changes. similar to public housing, people probably remember congressman richard baker. saying this moment the people of that the public housing not being involved gave the opportunity for this change. in both cases, we are told it is an invisible hand of the market that will make these systems better. it was said that new orleans

would have the first 100% free market public education system in the country. i think the times example gives a really good challenge to this idea that the market will solve all our problems with these fundamental need like health care, education, housing. here is this paper, the most profitable newspaper the chain owns. it has highest -- penetration, thank you. of any daily in the country. in a city that has the lowest internet access of any city in the country. and yet if you ask almost anybody in new orleans if they think we should lose our daily paper, nobody thinks it is a good idea yet we do not have a say ultimately in what happens in our daily paper.

people were saying let us buy the paper but new house the not want to sell the paper. it is their most profitable paper. they want to use this flash a paper for this experiment and what they want to do in these other cities, this experience is ultimately about their bottom line, not the need for a community newspaper. the mere talking about this fundamental needs like -- when we are talking about these fundamental needs like education, health care, housing, it cannot just be about what is profitable. it has to be about what the community needs and what the community wants. we need to have some sort of lever to make that happen. in these other systems, the press is often that lever to make it happen. as a star to wind up, i want to to wind up,i start w

i want to give another example that is relevant. the case of this -- the jena six. remember that? it started about a year after hurricane katrina in 2006. in the small town of jena, a parish that is about 80% white, that paris that voted -- the highest vote for david duke when he ran for governor. in the first day of school, they were having a school assembly. at the end, a school administrator asked students if they had further questions. one blacks didn't said yes. -- one black student said

yes. can anyone sit where they want in the yard? it was traditionally divided by race. white students generally sat under the street. the school administrator said yes, anyone can sit wherever they want. the next day, there are noses hanging from under the tree -- there are nooses hanging from under the tree in the black students took this as a message from the white students. they acted in this bold act of civil disobedience were they went in a group and gathered under that tree and there was commotion in the school. the district attorney of the parish was called called in the statistical assembly. it was most/race. directing his remarks, he said to the blacks did you need to stop making trouble, i can make

your lives disappear with the stroke of my pen. what followed was several months of racial tension in the school and town overall. and this feeling that black students were punished for things that white students were not punished for. it white farmers didn't threaten some black students with a shotgun. they took the gun and were charged with theft while the owner of the gun faced no charges. a few days after that shotgun incident, there was a fight in jena high school. a white steed was badly beaten -- student was badly beaten he was brought to a hospital and had serious injuries. six black students were tarnished with being part of that fight. -- were charged with being part of that fight. there were not necessarily those that fought but there were a charged with attempted murder and were facing life in prison.

there was a feeling in the town that if this was a fight between just the white students are just black students or a blck student being beaten up by white stitching, this would not be the charge. a parent of the students did not know anything about media or organizing but they knew they wanted to stand up. so they started having these protests in the town. first it wishes them and their friends and neighbors -- first it was just them and their friends and neighbors. they were coming out every week. then never held a press conference before they started sending out press conferences and notices to the media, sending out letters to state legislators and where they could think of. at first it was just one local newspaper that was covering it,

the alexandria paper. then people from surrounding communities are becoming out. a community television station from lafayette and started covering the rallies. word starte getting out. i heard from people from new orleans to heard about and started going. did you cannot just as a product of louisiana had been involved in -- the juvenille justice project a louisiana had been involved. more and more people started coming to the rallies. i went to the first one in may of 2007. they had been going for around six months with almost no attention outside the town but they were still every week or every couple of weeks continuing to come out in protest. i wrote the first article about that for a national audience in

the independent paper in new york and a couple other publications. soon after, there was a bbc report, and so should the press, reuters -- associated press, reuters. still it was bubbling beneath the service. people were dealing the article. people start hosting it on social networking sites. people who had never before been to jena were making videos about it. so the word was getting out to the grass roots. some of the most regular media coverage was on black radio stations, especially around the south, having family members call in and talk about the story. in late june, i did a story on it for democracy now. that was a radio and tv show

that circulated around the u.s. and that again is not seen as mainstream media but the shift that happened after that democracy now report was remarkable. the families, for more than six months, had a legal defense fund set up. but it was virtually no money in it. within five days after that democracy now report, there was about $40,000 in that account from viewers and listeners around the country that had seen it. this non-mainstream media has really broken the story in a new way. the final call newspaper, the only nationwide black owned independent newspaper in the country, did a story soon afterwards. two syndicated black radio shows, the steve harvey show and michael baisden show started

talking about the case very regularly. all this combined bought the story to a whole new level. corporate media started taking more of a look. it started becoming a big story. late july, family members call for another rally and 300 people cannot which was the biggest number anyone had ever heard of for that town. a friend of mine said they were out there and we started marching and chanting. we said no justice, no peace, and we would march the whole town. it fell like a very large group and let it messes was being sent. and on land organization did a petition and thousands of people signed it. it was delivered on that day in

to live. and then there was another protest on september 20 of 2007. word without -- went out and steve garvey and michael b aisden were talking about it every day this point. in national conference call people from stealing government associations -- from student government association is were organizing on how to come out. many students who had never before been to a protest were actually organizing entire bosses from their community or from their school to go. on that day september 20, it is estimated about 40,000 people came and marched in that town. soon after, the charges against the youth were mostly dropped in

those six young men are now in college today instead of jail. that absolutely happen because of this national movement, because of this grass roots media that kept the story alive because of these family members that fought against this wall of official silence for months. it does remind me of what happened later with egypt. people who live in protesting in numbers of five, 10, 20 people and immediately arrested. and against this wall of official silence. no one knew of a protest movement in egypt. maybe the muslim brotherhood at most. suddenly, millions work out. and it happened instantly at this moment was broken. -- millions were out. and it happened instantly at this moment. many people have to come

together. when i talk to families from jena, they say they are so glad their children are free and in college but more than that, they want people around the country to learn this lesson from the struggle. to learn this lesson of building the struggle that many people of different talents and skills can get involved in. some are making youtube videos, some are organizing bosses, some are on conference calls. some are lawyers, lobbyists. but all of them under this vision of this change, in this case freeing at these young men or in egypt, changing the government, it is a movement that is accountable to the space that many people can come into. it is a movement that continued to struggle even after weeks, months, years of no one paying attention with the knowledge that one day can be -- one day

if cannot be impossible. looking forward in media, albany to look at some of these heroes -- we need to look at some of these heroes that are not generally recognized. one of my heroes is ida b. wells. her voice is a story missing in the story of paternalism. she was a black woman from the south born shortly after the end of slavery who made it her mission to uncover the story of lynchings in the south and to spread the word around the country about the lynchings of especially young black men in the south. she was also on a segregated railcar in 1875 and refused to get up and was arrested years before our own roasa parks.

she was an activist and a journalist. we are told this line of journalism that you cannot be both, that journalism have to be objective. i think journalism needs to be accountable to the truce but we need to be actually honest about who the journalists are as individuals and be honest about what they're bringing into it. we should not hide a have belize but we should be honest about the people and we should have transparency. i want to close with two quotes from ida b. wells which i think sums up this passion that she had. "it is better to die fighting against injustice than to die like a dog or a rat in a trap."

she said that in reference to her activism. she also said the people must know before they can act. there is no educated to compare with the press. so it is up for all of us as a community to shake that press and to fight for a media that represents us and that to make change possible and i can give a lie to the idea that we are at the end of history and change is not possible thank you. not possible thank you. -- not p ossible. thank you. >> thank you very much, jordan. i am sure this presentation has inspired some questions. if you have any questions, please raise your hand and we can ask jordan. >> [inaudible] >> [inaudible] >> id is an interesting

question. it also comes we did everyone here that? let me repeat the question. she was saying in london, the evening paper is free and so the advertising pays for it and it reaches a wider audience. so it is all over. the question is can new orleans do something like that? do something like that? that is the thing. it is a profitable newspaper.

we already have a lot of free papers. here in new orleans, all of our weekly papers are free. the tribune is free. >> these papers are evening newspapers. the advertising is paid for. >> the times picayune put out limited editions of some amount of news that are free. they all try at some level of giving out a certain amount of free papers. i think all these things are possible but the point is, money is not a problem. the problem is two different visions over the future of newspapers to read these owners have decided that the future of newspapers is not in print.

they have made that decision. they believe they can make more profit with this new model. people talk about how sometimes these venture capitalist firms or other our owners will buy a factory and sell it out piece by piece to make profit and then dump it at the end. there was an article the other day, they said in some ways, newhouse is selling out piece by piece the good will that the times picayune had by chopping it down to the limited days. they are squeezing this money out in a short-sighted way that may be in the short term, they will make more money but the long-term, they will not have the paper. so it is the short term vision partly because they have no stake in new orleans. they do not care if it has a

media they need. that is why we need to look at with these institutions, i cannot just be about the market. we need to find other ways to support media. not just with newspapers but we are in a crisis of media in general in this country. it is not just about media not making money but about media not doing the hard work of investigating. media should be holding the powerf accountable. and we lost that vision of media. we need to find a way to fund media too it and advertising will not necessarily find media that challenges the powerful. all of us need to think about how we can solve that question. there is no easy answer. >> i cannot think that they have found the answer at nola.com. it will not in its current model ever [inaudible] >> she said nola.com will not

touch with the times picayune delivered. she is right. reminds me of a 14-year-old myspace page circa 196. 96. >> we will believe more of what we see in the newspaper. >> her comment -- as a comment, write, not a question. we believe more what we read in the newspaper them what we read online. it is a fair point. i am interested in your thoughts on how the government tries to control the digital media when various protests break out in countries. there has been more activity by governments that control what gets out of that country when

there are problems. but so the question was what i think about governments try to crack down on social media -- >> so the question was what i think about government trying to crack down on social media. china, for example, has been pretty successful at silencing online dissent. in egypt, i think it backfired on them. it made people more angry. it is not a sure-fire tactic to these regimes to try. it can work four days, at work -- it can work for weeks, months, years but that change can still come. he did showed that no matter what means the government used to crack down dissent, sometimes peoples will to be free will overcome it. >> although i like having a newspaper, we feel like the news

is one-sided. i would almost rather have no newspaper than just one that is on one side of the story. almost closing down the times picayune might help change the news people receive. could it be good if it closed down? >> the question was she feels like the times picayune and media has this crisis and that they do not represent all they should. she wonders if the paper falls, maybe something better will rise up and in its place. is that a fair summary? >> or that people will have to go to multiple places to get their news instead of just one that comes to their door. >> so that maybe people go to multiple places instead about one place and that will broade what people do. >it is possible but i'm very

skeptical. i think we need more than the times picayune. we needed to be better. losing it is unfortunately not the answer. even if we are able to save it, we should not declare an easy victory and think that everything is ok. we should fight for their to be maybe two daily papers and changes within the system. i go every year to an annual gathering called the allied media conference, a gathering of people who do various kinds of progressive media around the country. last year was speaking to a couple of people who work with the more mainstream media but still came to the conference. they were talking about the struggles they had. they were both women who work in the media and it were talking about it being a very male workplace that they dealt with. one of the people said

regularly, she will stay out of office to the press and to go cry because of the stifling environment she is facing. held regularly after work, you need to have several frank -- drinks because of what she was facing. i think people that are within this media trying to do good work are facing a really oftentimes dysfunctional and barman. -- environment. we need a dual power strategy. a movement outside of the government to also fight for change within the government. the same is true with media. we need to build up our alternatives and fight for a strong, robust alternative to the corporate media. at the same time, we need to support especially those voices within the mainstream that are fighting to do good work. there are a lot of berlin reporters at the times -- of brilliant reporters of the times

picayune. in new orleans, the majority of people are getting a news from their and as big sites. it cannot just say we're going to ignore it and let it collapse three we need to fight for those to do a better job and for them to be robust and strong as well. >> in getting back to egypt, can you tell us more about the independent media sources that you encountered while working with egyptian activists? correct the question is about independent media sources i encountered -- >> the question is about and depended media sources i encountered. i do not want to present myself as an expert on egypt. i have been there a few times. i spent a certain amount of time there after the revolution but i do not read arabic. that is cutting out of a lot.

there were a lot of independent bloggers and people organizing of facebook. some of the facebook organizing, they did it in a smart way about bringing people into the process. it would not say there is a demonstration on this day but it would say there is a demonstration, which should all where one color. what color should be where? so bringing people into the discussion and giving them ownership. so people felt this is my movement, too. people using media in a way that was interactive that really brought people in. i think that was helpful. >> digital activism is a risky proposition. i would like to know where we think the funding will come to feel the machine and freedom of

information and the ability to communicate can be a threat to any government. it will shut that down any chance they can, whether it is an attack on wikileaks or what happened in egypt. if we are going to have a freer press, we have to find money which is going to be hard and how to regulate those who make a lot? we cannot. so many to find a way to make the internet impossible to shut down. how do you make it impossible to not sent to the internet? if we can do that, then digital activism is not going to happen at all. idea ofe saying this digital activism, specifically did to media is not a solution. at least, it is a risky path to

take for any number of reasons. how do we know it is reliable? how are we going to fund it? how are we going to fund it? how come we be sure the government will not shut down? is that accurate? i think all of that is really true. we need to as a wider community, as the people of this earth, find an answer. i do think that media should be this basic part of government. it should be the basic right. it is housing, health care, education. it should be something that we have. whether we're talking about the so-called mainstream media or this digital online media, we need to find how it will be funded. so much of what is on the media is not journalism. in this -- a comment on other people's investigation carried back commentary can be interesting but you need somebody doing that the actual

investigation and this -- and to actually looking into that. that cannot be done for free. cometary is easy to do for free. the journalism is really not. we need to find a way to fund that, whether it is happening online or in print. it does not always something that advertisers are going to want to fund. i think we as a people need to find a solution and path forward for that. it is not going to construct a from the market. i hope that answers your question. >> i keep hearing how tragic it is that the times picayune will cut down circulation but i think maybe it is a generational thing. i understand it is embarrassing that we have the first city of this size to do without its daily newspaper but maybe we are also in the the the the head of the curve. not people in the 20's did read the newspaper. i never read the newspaper.

maybe if i am under ground and my phone has no service. maybe it is possible we're moving away from print and that is okay. online sources are very legitimate. we know, i know that when i go on line, i see the same thing on 20 circuits, i will be more likely to believe it. >> another good question. she is asking is this a generational thing? people than to their 20 puzzle are not really concerned about losing the daily paper maybe none of us to be concerned about it. maybe we do not need that with these other sources can fill that need. i think it is a fair point. at the rally to save the times picayune, there were several hundred people there and only a handful were under 50.

only a handful were not white. i think that does beg some real questions and legitimate questions. it goes back to this discussion necker raised which is -- that karen raised. i do not think that nola.com can take the place of the times. it does not prioritize this important news. they did a multiple part series on incarceration around the state. people that saw the paper saw it was given high preference but you could barely find it on the web site. we -- it is possible we are moving into an era beyond print. i am amazed we still have really great radio. but people and still doing radio.

whatever it is, we need to find a way that we're going to support good media and support powerful media. i do believe that we should have a daily paper but i hear what you're saying. i definitely think it is not the only answer. if we do have a daily paper, we need one that will do a better job of doing all these things and we need to build up these alternatives. absolutely. absolutely. >> i want to comment on what you said. when i got out of college many years ago, i lived in boston for two years. never led the boston globe once. i could care less about it. -- never read the boston globe once. i could care less about it. i did not care about the knees.

i am a college graduate. moved to new york. occasionally, i read the sunday times. never subscribed. there was still no npr. i hardly watched the news. i did not care about the news then. i really did not. i moved to seattle, two good papers. finally, after 10 years in new york, nine years in seattle, the last two years as a the subscribing to the paper. came to new orleans and i have been subscribing ever since i came here. what changed? i got older. young people, college kids, they do not care about the paper. [inaudible] >> at the question i get into a back and forth discussion. -- i think we should not get

into a back-and-forth discussion to request a journalism professor was speaking -- discussion. >> a journalism professor was speaking on the radio and he asked his students how many people were reading the newspaper. the last time to read when you're standing in college -- you're studying in college? the thing that also changed is now i am a news junkie. so i read blogs, i listen to npr. i watched news on tv and read the paper. you get older and you get into the new spirit -- into the news. >> i am wondering if anything is different in dallas and schools. are there different emphasis -- can he make a living at that

paternalism in the way that maybe when i thought about going into that 30 years ago, you thought of that. and whether kids still want to go to a journalism school and if it is any different. i would think it would have to be changes in what is taught and how it is thought. i think it would be like for someone like you to make a living. >> the question was are other changes happening in the journalism schools with this changing environment. and he thinks it would be hard to make a living which is pretty true. [laughter] i cannot know the answer to what is happening with a journalism schools but when i talk to young journalists, they are very scared about where they're going to get a job. when i talk to journalists that are recent graduates, i think

they are all thinking it into the back of their mind what profession will they have to segue into. especially those working in print. those in a tv deal may be a little more secure but the television stations are also cutting back, especially on those doing the hard work of journalism. it is in crisis. i have done a lot of work recently for al jazeera. over the last decade, al jazeera has been one of the two networks that has been expanding and hiring people while others have been cutting back. that has been really positive and has led to a lot of great work. work. part of why they are doing that is because it is not advertised independent. we need to think about what media will look like in the new area. every kind of media has problems.

also the question of how well can they do their job and how much can they do their job? it is certainly a crisis. i believe you had a hand up here. >> the new york times provides the perfect model for adapting in newspaper into a web site. you have to pay for the online content. i did not agree that young people do not value in newspaper. they do. the method of delivery is radically changing as we go forward with the new generation. we have to except that to some degree. what is printed on paper has become an outmoded method of delivering the news. it is a new reality and one we will have to accept to a certain degree. >> where is the money going to >> where is the money going to come [inaudible]

>> i can read any newspaper in the country any day and i do believe there will be method to pay for this. if there is a demand, there will be a method to deliver. but i do not want you to do too much back and forth but this shows that after this q &a we can have a robust discussion at each of our tables. there are a lot of different opinions and arguments on. for those who could not hear this issue of what will want journalism and how will we receive it, speaking for myself, i like to consume all kinds of media. i used to buy a lot of cd's.

i don't anymore. i used to buy a lot of magazines. at payless to see movies -- i pay less to see movies. we have all become accustomed to the idea that media is free. the corporations that the liberal media will always find a way to make profit off of media. they will always -- have talked of how the recording industry is in crisis but it will always ultimately find a way to make profit. for people doing really independent work and especially independent journalism, and an art, art that makes the powerful uncomfortable. that is what will not necessarily be funded. i encourage us to think about

changing how we think about media. some media is worth paying for. we need to find ways to pay for it, especially the media that challenges the powerful, that media at that does not immediately profitable. >> perhaps we can do two or three more questions and then let our speaker have is that as well. -- have his dinner as well. >> news is something that is happening today right now or will happen. what we read in the newspaper is history so we cannot ignore that aspect. i want to know what will happen, not two days ago. we have to keep that perspective in mind also. >> thank you. i think this will be the last, our question. >> [unintelligible]

in the end, which remember this is about people. people are organizing different movements. people are organizing revolutions and not the internet and media, not facebook or twitter and so on. that is why we need to look for [unintelligible] >> thank you. again, i want to celebrate this organization that brings together these gatherings and these kinds of discussions. they are s