>> welcome to city hall. thank you for joining us. thank you for coming out. i want to thank members of the

board of supervisors. i want to thank them for being here in this joint recognition of our commissioners and members of 14 different bodies that will be appointed today to committees and commissions. i want to thank all the friends and family for joining us. let me say how excited i am this past week, i have been watching a certain convention. next week, we will have an even more exciting convention to watch. it is of course, in the spirit of the expected national, regional, and state elections we are preparing for. it is also a reminder of the importance of our civic duty and

all the different departments we have created. public engagement is extremely important to the way we run government in san francisco. it has always been about public engagement. we need the last bodies come a different viewpoints, different economic classics -- classes, ethnicities, and regions of the city to be well-represented on everything we do because that is what makes our city great. it is that the verse you point coming together to focus -- it is that diverse viewpoint coming together to focus and figure out with the public what it is that we should do, that it is time well, well thought out, and what we need to do to show the rest of the country that this city can work itself out of the economic doldrums and into

presenting hope and economic opportunity for everybody, no matter their backgrounds. we also reflect our regional values in this city in many different ways. we want to continue selecting people who will make sure government and all of our programs are open to everybody. i want to thank each and every one of the people in front of me today representing the different bodies we are about to make appointments to and thank you for your sacrifice, time, and energy. today we get to recognize you. tomorrow, people will start yelling at you. it is part of that process. it is one we cherish no matter what body we're on. i know former mayor willie brown is here. i want to thank him for

constantly being a support to all of our commissions and for being here today. i want to recognize each and everyone of you today by asking you to stand and be recognized as i call your commission and name out. for the board of appeals, we have an lazarus. joshua, thank you for being here. for the construction and workforce advisory committee, a body i helped to establish as city administrator, this body is going to be important for us because in our economic recovery we need to work better with our construction companies

to make sure everybody has a chance to work in our city. bob alvarado, thank you for being here and part of it. ed riskin, thank you for stepping up again. florence, thank you. harland kelly, our general manager to be. thank you. kent, thank you for stepping up. yes, i will tell you what you are paid for after. [laughter] james, thank you for being here. coming out of retirement, thank you for stepping up. thank you for all of your great

work. joshua, you are appointed to two conditions today. -- two commissions today. thank you very much. mohammad, he always needs help. thank you for stepping up. [applause] oscar delatorre, the northern california carpenters regional council, thank you. laborers council. tim, thank you for being here. the film commission, patrick johnson, thank you for stepping up. an invaluable planning council that i will be working closely with as we move into the new

health care challenges for our city and state and country, that is our hiv services planning council. gabriel ortega, thank you for stepping up. mark, thank you for being here. [applause] a very important commission, our immigrant rights commission, who is constantly challenged by the need to reform our immigration policies, but to make sure that when people try to vote this year that they will not be intimidated. we've got to work harder for the rest of the country. we can show the way here. i know the leadership will come from sonia. thank you for stepping up. our state has presented, and our

country has presented, a challenge to us for our seniors and the need for long-term care. we're going to be working closely with the long term care coordinating council. thank you, tracy. [applause] thank you for stepping up. and for teaching me how to pronounce your name. our mta newest member to the board of directors and one that i know will be of great value to us as we are challenged with everybody being able to enjoy all the services our mta has. thank you, christina, for stepping up. [applause] as we move into the times when we want more people to come in,

we want development to create jobs, we need to make sure we appropriately plan all areas of the city. i want to thank these two gentlemen for stepping up to come and spend hours of their personal time helping us with the planning of the city. michael, thank you for returning and stepping forward for the planning commission. richard, thank you very much for stepping up as well. some say the most voluble land we have -- valuable land we have for people to live and enjoy is the waterfront. i want to thank our newest commissioner to the port commission, william adams. thank you, william, for stepping up. [applause]

we have a very important task in front of us for this november. we have a very important bond i think most people in the city know will be invaluable to us for our kids and families. that is the open spaces part bond proposition b for this year. we also have a cherished commission and department that is charged with maintaining all of the open space in the city from the parklets to the vast golden gate park, to the shared responsibilities we have with ocean beach and open spaces throughout the city. i want to thank phil for being here today. we have our returning commission. you have done a wonderful job so well. in my decision, it was appropriate to reappoint youtube this important commission, -- to

reappoint you to this important commission, and keep the good work out. gloria, megan, thank you. tom harrison, thank you very much for your wonderful work there. we have challenges at our state level in the way we handle our incarcerated population. we will be working closely with the realignment committee, with all of our public safety departments, many of them are represented here today. we will be working with the sentencing commission. stephen, thank you for stepping up and helping us with our sentencing commission. [applause] it is no surprise to you that i have been working with the board

of supervisors on this very thema, and i am not afraid to keep repeating it. it is jobs, jobs, jobs for everybody. we can only do it if we have a more enlightened workforce investment board the works with us on all the policies we need to have, all the outrage, all of the communities need to be represented on our investment board. i want to thank everyone who is stepping forward today to be on the board to help us with the 21st century policies we need to make sure people have every chance and opportunity to work in jobs in the city. andrew, thank you for joining. barbara morrissette, thank you for joining us. brenda barnes, thank you very

much. diane easterwood from kaiser, thank you for stepping up and helping. kevin carroll, thank you for stepping up and being with us. niki callahan, -- mickey callahan, they keep for your help and stepping up. ontario from pg&e, thank you. rebecca miller, thank you very much for being here. [applause] rudy bagsby, thank you for stepping up and being part of this. sylvia kwan, thank you very much. ted eagan, thank you very much for stepping up on this workforce.

tiffany, thank you very much. keep us focused on central market, too. tom from riverbed technology, thank you. trent, thank you very much for all of your great work. jimena from bank of america, thank you very much for stepping up. [applause] finally, the largest body we have today, but one of the most important ones, one that today we have shared appointments with the board of supervisors is our youth commission. [applause] yes. i assure you that people from this body, as well as all the other bodies, will one day see

somebody standing in my place or in the place of the people standing by the side of meat and their respective offices. our youth are important. whether it is public safety, education, free muni, all the things we deem important to make this city healthy. you are charged with helping us with the best inclusion and policies we can have to keep families vibrant, keep our youth a safe, keep them motivated, and keep all of us paying attention to our next generation of people who will inherit everything we do and will inherit the good things as well as the bad things. with your help, there will be less bad things to inherit. with that, angel carion, thank you for being here and stepping up. ariel, thank you for stepping

forward and being part of our youth commission. brian chu, thank you for being here. christine, thank you for stepping forward. eric wu, they give for stepping forward. -- thank you for stepping forward. iris, thank you for being here. kyren, thank you for being here and being part of the effort. lily, thank you for stepping forward. mia, thank you for being part of this. mia, thank you. nicholas persky, a key for being part of this and stepping forward.

-- thank you for being part of this and stepping forward. paul rodriguez, thank you for stepping forward. rachel broadwyn, thank you. sarah armstrong, thank you for stepping forward. vanessa, thank you for being part of this. vee, thank you. that is our commissions. let us proceed with the swearing in. stand if you can and raise your right hand, those that can do so. please repeat after me.

i, your name, do solemnly swear that i will support and defend the constitution of the united states and the constitution of the state of california against all enemies foreign and domestic, that i will bear true faith and allegiance to the constitution of the united states and the constitution of the state of california, that i take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, and that i will well and faithfully discharge the duties upon which i am about to enter during such

time as i hold the office of -- for the city and county of san francisco. congratulations. thank you very much. [applause] thank you, all. our class of commissioners for 2012. 14 commissions. thank you very much. >> welcome to the 2011 spj town

hall. i'm here with my co-host to welcome you to what promises to be a fascinating discussion about the changes taking place in journalism today. tonight's program is presented by the society of professional journalists in collaboration with the san francisco public library and san francisco bay area journalists. after several years of difficulty, we are seeing a lot of activity, particularly involving new media organizations. we have seen patch.com open hundreds of bureaus across the country. yahoo! is expanding its staff across the country. aol bought the huffington opposed. in the middle east, we saw how citizen journalists are reporting on the uprisings, and in papers like the "san francisco chronicle" are finding ways to collaborate with groups

like spj's journalist of the year in northern california. his last three of this year's winners were new or nonprofit media, a ratio that would have been unthinkable just a decade ago when newspapers and large tv stations dominated the news media. to be sure, most of the hard work is still ahead of us. few new start-ups turn a profit. many community newsrooms' still rely on volunteer labor, and broader economic issues. we want to encourage the members of our audience here at the public library to drive this discussion. this is your chance to ask these experts what is happening to the news that you depend on to make your day to day decisions. our conversation tonight will include five elements -- we will talk about the quality of

reporting available to the public and move on to what is being done to create sustainable newsroom jobs. we will talk about creating a new system that enjoys constitutional freedom of the press, celebrates the diversity of our communities, and enjoys the economic independence needed to support ethical journalism. i would like to introduce my coast -- co-host of the evening, and she will be introducing our panelists. >> thank you, rose. it is a privilege to stand up here. we are not used to looking this good. we can go to radio in pajamas. i would like to introduce our panelists for today. we will start back from the left. executive producer of the "daily mandarin and cantonese newshour." next to him is the director of

multimedia and technology programs at the night digital media center at uc-berkeley. next is the managing is theidd -- managing director at idd ventures sf. nexus' the editor in chief of marketwatch.com, part of news corp. -- next is the editor in chief. the co-founder and senior community manager of oakland local, a nonprofit media that promotes public discourse on issues. in the front row is a media analyst, who publishes an was a key developer of the mercury center. next to him is an assistant professor of broadcast and electronic media at san francisco state university. next is the managing editor for

local news at -- i'm sorry. he is not at yahoo!, right. he is editor-in-chief of patch.com, a division of aol that provides news to specific communities. very local. after him, we have the managing director for local news at yahoo.com, guiding the company's local coverage nationwide. last but not least is the senator who represents san francisco and san mateo counties, and he is the recipient of spj's freedom of information award in 2010. that is our panel. back to you, rose. >> before we start, i want to get a sense of who we have in the audience. how many of you currently work

in the media? lots. how many of you used to work in the media? how many of you want to work in the media? ok, good. that will give us a sense of who we are talking with. great. every friday, we have a media roundtable and invite international, alternative, and mainstream journalists to talk about coverage of the week's news. we believe it is important to highlight good journalism because so much of it gets passed over. we think it is also important to start off on a positive no. with that, i want to start off on a positive note tonight. i worked with very. we were on staff before the web was even a mainstream word. i just want to ask you, since you were there in the beginning, and you have rode the wave, what is really exciting new