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tv   [untitled]    August 4, 2011 11:00pm-11:30pm PDT

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from people who are not working right now. >> my name is luke. i worked as a generalist for seven years. currently -- journalist for seven years. currently, i worke with photographs. it is really all about the business model. patch believe they can make money based on advertising. other local newspapers believe advertising is not enough to support journalism. i am interested in your thoughts on that, brian. and pat, i know that you are looking for 20, 30 times returns. >> what is that? >> i put in $1 million and i get $10 million out. >> we do not know what that is an public radio. [laughter]
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>> ok, thank you. i would like to ask our guests to keep the questions short and sweet. we have a lot of questions. >> patch is built on ad revenue, but not in the -- it is not just banner ads. it is about serving the community. there is a business community as well. small business owners who knew to be served, the sorts of at products that benefit them. all of these are good, from non profit, to different models. you mean that variety. i got an e-mail from taxable. i appreciate that. >> you have a question for pat as well? >> i think the business model in the media always changes. the big one that everyone has
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seen in their lifetime is, when i was a kid, tv was free. across america, it was funded by advertisers. today, the vast majority of americans pay a fee to get television. if the contact mix is right, hard journalism, entertainment, people will pay. all along the spectrum from the complete the paid to be completely ad-funded, you see it all today. one of the crisis we have now is the old model of classified advertising, paying for hard news journalism on paper has broken the, and is being replaced. that business model change had been a constant for 150 years. there are millions of models that work, and will be, and capital can chase them, as you get a 10x return, as you described.
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>> we want to get to everyone's questions. >> my name is alex. i have heard two major themes about new media. one, that it has a radical democratic potential, low barrier to entry, but i have also heard repeated again and again, in order for your model to be successful, in order for your web site to be successful, you have to hitch your wagon to a large, well-funded, established media corporation. i wonder, in light of that, how new, really, is new media? as the dust settles, is new media not just become the old media as it has been? how far have we come from a daily billing 60 years ago criticizing, saying the press is free only for those who own one.
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>> is a great question. i am going to go back to that first question, the quality of digital journalism. we are more than 15 years into internet news. still, you hear people say it is coming along. someday it will be good. quality journalism existed on the internet from day one. it was there. the internet journalists were winning awards from day one. there is a lot of noise surrounding it, which makes it seem worse, say, than "the chronicle." quality journalism is there. the new part of the media is not a new types of stories being told, but how they are being told, short for nurses long form, and how they are distributed on your one newspaper or magazine or one website, versus to run the mobile universe, or threat the
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internet universe, portals. do you want to give 30% of revenue to apple in order to distribute it? lots of publishers are making that decision. it is the distribution from free tv to pay tv and the change from the free online destination media to mobile everywhere media and the creation of brands there. along with the business model, that is what we are working on. >> the want to go to the next question. we have to get to everybody. >> my name is peter bergen. i am an investigative reporter. i do not write content, i do not right product. i do news reporting. i do not write material to put ads around. there are some assumptions coming from this gathering that i find troubling. many years ago, upton sinclair wrote a classical study of
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journalism. he said that the advertising model does not work. clearly, it does work, but the main thing that is missing from what everyone has been talking about so far is the consumer. when i read long form of journalism, which i write, i print it out. when i mounted an investigation of the region's last year of california, i collected about $7,000 from individuals and parlayed it into six print journeys, seven weeklies. got a lot of national coverage. it made some difference in people's lives, but i did not take a dime from any corporation. ok? so let's talk about how we go back to the model where people who need investigation, news -- because my duty is not to reflect corporations.
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let us not be proud that we are moving forward because we do not have journalist unions anymore. that's going back to selling the news that people need, and get rid of the middle man, which is turning out to be a lot of publishers. >> first, thank you for bringing that up. a great question. it gives me the opportunity to talk about two things i am passionate about, perspective and poor people. neither one of those things are efficient -- artificial when it becomes to becoming an millionaire. there is a website that i really liked called poormagazine. that has existed for the past 10 years, focusing on the homeless communities in the bay area. everything that they get is donations and they get few donations. they focus on the things that are ignored by the media
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outlets, and they are doing it specifically for the people on the streets. those are the kinds of people, the people that they are focusing on. but to be honest, they do not pay bills, they do not have money for advertising. the perspective that comes from those communities are often not what foundation's one. foundations usually go from labor of the month to flavor of the month. we are backed by foundations, so hopefully i am not biting myself in the ass. if you are foundation-funded, you have to focus on what the foundation wants. if you are advertising-focused, you have to focus on what the advertiser wants. so where is the space for this marginalized community? i did a story two years ago that focused on west oakland, dealing with asthma rates. nobody in west oakland had the
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money to pay for it, but everybody read it. i know because i walked around and handed out paper copies of it. how do we focus on those organizations, the people who cannot do it themselves? i am sorry to answer your question with a question, but it is something i am passionate about. >> hello, i am just graduating high school this year. i plan to pursue a career in journalism. like others, i get a constant reminder that it is a struggling field. personally, i am not too concerned with money. i am just passionate about journalism. like many others, i want to know what it is looking like for people like me, who are planning to pursue a career in journalism, what steps do i need to be taking? >> four years from now, i
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believe she will be out of journalism school, what will landscaped look like? >> it will look great because you are cheap labor. [laughter] and there is plenty of room for you to work their way up. if you really focus on digital skills that make you stand out from everyone else, you are going to make it. fundamentally, you need to write well. if you can do that, you will be successful in this industry. i honestly believe that there is plenty of room for people who want to pursue careers in journalism right now. >> what skills should they be learning, at this point, if they are just going into k school -- j scjool? -- school? >> certainly, the ability to
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write. being able to speak to the reader, you should certainly learn and probably already know how to do so, video. basically, how to use all of the social media channels available. but i would not really focus so much on those tools because they are getting easier and easier by the day. i am sure four years from now, -- you probably get that in school anyway, but you want to focus on the basics of understand your role as a reporter in a community. and jobs are becoming available. there is more hiring going on. that will continue, going forward. >> one question would be, who is a journalist? that fundamental question. does she have to go to journalism school for four years to be considered? how can she distinguish herself
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from a citizen journalist or a blogger? need there be a distinction? that goes into a whole nother question of who is a journalist. nobody wants to tackle that question. >> you should also visit new terms and talk to journalists about what they do. >> i will try to be quick. i think there is a spectrum of journalism and there are professionals. citizen journalists along the spectrum, but they are all valuable. i was going to say, one of the things you should learn how to do is promote yourself and promote your brand. you can get on tomorrow, you can build clips like no other time in history. you can do that on facebook, your web site. learning how to use your network to promote the thing that you care about, what to write about,
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is a huge scale that the internet will allow you to do. >> my name is claudia. i worked for pat. my question is for everyone on the panel. -- i work for patch. noting the lack of hispanics on the panel, how do newsrooms address in-language content and sourcing? try to get people in the community, the poor and marginalized, to interact with digital journalism? >> and journalists need to know more than one language, it is that simple. you need to be able to interact with members of your community that you normally would not be able to if you were restricted by language. that is what i tell my students. i always tell them to minor in spanish, not just because it
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will make them better reporters, but it will get them jobs in a wider variety of markets. so i do believe that is incredibly important. if you do not speak the language, you find somebody who does. you have them help you. if you were to cover communities, for example, who speak mandarin or cantonese, and you do not speak a word, that is not necessarily a limitation. action--- definitely be part of a journalist's training and anyone who is of having will have a better shot at telling stories. -- multilingual will have a better shot at telling stories. >> we are out of time. i want to thank all of our panelists. thank you all. and thank you all for coming.
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[applause]
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>> good morning. quick adjustment here. thank you all for coming this beautiful morning in san francisco. we are honored to have mayor ed lee with us today. senator yi and supervisor cohen is on the way and a special guest marisa churchill from the top chef from the food network. i have been with the company for over 35 years and you can probably tell by my hair color. i have seen lots of changes off that time period. lots of innovative things. this is one of the most exciting that we've been involved with as a company. we are aligning our initiative
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-- is that better? i have been with the company over 35 years and i had the privilege of witnessing many initiatives. as the needs of our customers and patients have changes over time. one of the newest initiatives is the food oasis. it is an expanded offering of fresh and healthy foods in communities that are convenient. we are not always the only offering but here near public transportation in the neighborhood a lot of folks who are home bound don't have access and we are trying to change the offerings that we offer so people can come in and get fresh fruits and vegetables. one
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we would go and clean up in the community,. love is to the upload them. we have given lots of time and money. -- we are very committed to the program. everyone is aware, the citizens are basing a lot of chronic
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diseases, specifically i.t., a childhood obesity, high blood pressure. we have been trying to figure out ways along with our prescription business, what we sell to help people leave a healthy lifestyle. this is our first one in northern california. a lot of places are underserved. hopefully this will serve the community well and give the folks in the area the ability to buy healthy foods. with that, i will turn it over to the mayor. >> thank you very much. i'm here because i support a lot of the things, especially in the supervisor's district.
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we're interested in being healthy. we approach it in a different way. i approach it by trying to eat healthy foods. you can ask him what he is running for. anyway, the management, i would like to thank you for creating the very first oasis right here because it is important. bayview for many years has been very hard to get choices. the choice of good and fresh foods in your community. so, this surprised me. so the people associate with walgreen's said that we will
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open up the very first and increase in expand our operation in the city. food choices and healthy choices are needed. we need this year and we need it back over the city. we have already 16 stores and our city is employing some 1500 people. having seen them in partnership, as they said that there have been the cleanest stores and very respectful of every neighborhood in the city. we have great corporate partners and it did not surprise me that they would also say that we can expand our choices. i've never seen walgreen's that
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has never been known as a drug store. they have been known as the neighborhood store. we have good neighborhood partners. in addition, offering foods, whether it is healthy sandwiches or fresh produce and at a location already established. it will make that to be very important. i am here to support that. i am here to celebrate that. i am here to suggest that every store can do the same thing. it is not as about this announcements, also about helping us take two strokes back so it does not cost the patrons any more money and we have a safe place to take them. there also contributing to getting rid of graffiti.
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and they employ people. when you open up an oasis store, this is not just added produce, someone will have to handle that. they include another five or 10 employees. that is a great way to employ more people. with all of those good things, i would like to welcome the supervisor. she has taught me for six months about the need to have healthy choices in the menu. she has the heart to really express our support because you cannot really do anything. you cannot appreciate anything without your help. my wife tells me every day that i had better eat healthier. she cares about our community here. i joined her in this open and
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she is one of the healthiest people on the board of supervisors. she knows how it is helpful to everyone in this city. he is keeping the other side with a safe community. she is working really hard. all of the other members. i want to say i am here. we're working really closely. he is expanding that choice. that is the perfect situation. we understand that they are donating to the bayview foundation.
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that is an and their indication of how this is not just another store. muhammed and i were here when the store opened. we were here helping to make a landscaping was done well and keeping this area from being here as well. this is a great time to celebrate. congratulations to you and your wonderful management for not only having a great handle but a store that does everything so well. >> i would like to introduce the senator. they have been 8 walgreen supporter for some time.
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i really appreciate that. >> let me knowledge why my good friend is great. he knows everyone here and he says everything that we all want to say. on and no personal thing, one of the things that has been believed is that all of us need to understand that we have to be a lot more healthy. the statistics are just daunting for all of us not only here in california but throughout the world. our lifestyle has to change, our eating habits have to change. we will look at how much we will spend to do with the negative effect of an unhealthy lifestyle. whether or not this is about how you deal with your sedentary lifestyle or the food that you eat or whenever you consume.
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you have to understand that you have to have a lot more healthy choices. what walgreen has done and i am absolutely amazed about what is going on in walgreen's. they are really turning this store and these stores into an oasis of healthy lifestyles. you have individuals who can get all kinds of different products. and you cannot have any corporate entity in america for anything better than that. this is a one stop shop for all of your needs and more importantly, those needs that you want to take care of. there will be healthy answers for you. as i look at this, i hope that walgreen's will set the
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standard that any store in a community should have with they have. any store that will be in our community, they will have to demand that. you have to not only be a partner. i want to congratulate walgreen's for all of their work. if you do not own stocks in walgreen's, you should own stock in walgreen's. i will tell you that they will make a bundle of dollars. at the end of the day, that is because they care about our community. more people will come and buy their stuff. it is because of that economy of scale that they will make a lot of money. i hope that you'll join me in doing whatever you can.
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on behalf of the california state senate, we really want you to take this example and spread it not in just some neighborhoods but all neighborhoods in the state of california. >> now i would like to introduce the supervisor for this area. >> good morning, everyone.