Communications and Society Program

Journalistic Values and the Newsroom of the Future

Journalism, Transparency and the Public Trust, a report of the 8th Annual Aspen Institute Conference on Journalism and Society.

Participants (2004 Conference)

Online Resources Links to other journalism-related
websites.

Recommended Readings A bibiliography of thoughtful pieces on the business of journalism.

From the Archives:

Remarks by Attorney General John Ashcroft, June 2003

Media CEOs on the State of American Journalism, quotations from past conferences

Keynote Speech by Peter C. Goldmark, Jr., formerly Chairman and CEO, International Herald Tribune, 2001.

The Eighth Annual Aspen Institute Conference on Journalism and Society

The landscape for traditional journalism is being shaken by tectonic shifts in technology, industry economics and audience behavior. Digital technologies allow anyone to publish, and allow for greater user control over the content received. Audiences are more fragmented in terms of pure numbers, ethnicity, and viewing, listening or reading habits. And the consequences of these technological and audience behavioral shifts raise significant economic questions for traditional business models in journalism. In the middle of all these changes, journalism is a profession under constant strain and tension. Can any of this be good for journalism?

Twenty-five leading journalists, news executives and scholars considered the implications of these developments for the future of journalism at the Eighth Annual Aspen Institute Conference on Journalism and Society, held on July 16-18, 2004 at the Institute's Aspen Meadowscampus in Aspen, Colorado.

Against the backdrop of this changing landscape for media and journalism, ethical issues and issues that touch on corporate governance have become more visible and more contentious. During a time when successful new styles of journalism are emerging in the United States and abroad, we have seen executives blur the business with the profession, journalists violate the basic tenets of their craft, and journalistic enterprises falter. News media that serve as a watchdog over other powerful societal institutions are now being called upon to exhibit greater transparency and accountability in their own affairs, especially by upstarts practicing web-based journalism.

The media executives and journalism professionals who participated in the Conference on Journalism and Society explored some of the policies and practices that enable ethical entanglements to occur on the way to developing a set of strategies, or best practices, for strengthening the confidence of all stakeholders--audiences, capital markets, the public, sources and subjects, advertisers, and colleagues within the profession--in the integrity of the journalism and the corporate brand.

A complete list of participants is available here. The full report of the conference is available in PDF here.

The Conference on Journalism and Society, funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, with additional funding provided by the Ford Foundation, is a neutral forum for approximately 25 leading decision makers in journalism, business, and technology to address the influence of technology and market pressures on the quality of journalism. It is designed to help business and editorial leaders of the news media better understand how they might leverage their influence as leaders to enhance the contributions of the media to democracy and civic life.

Prior Conference Reports in this Series

Journalism, Security and the Public Interest: Best Practices for Reporting in Unpredictable Times
by Adam Clymer
2003, 64 pages