Linda Case files this report from the two-day media conference at Yale:

    The scene: golden Gothic halls of Yale Law School. The event: a two-day conference on the future of journalism.
    Two Courant alumni took part in the confab held Friday and Saturday in New Haven –  former copy editor Jack Atzinger, and freelance writer and recovering Luddite Linda Case.  Courant columnist Rick Green attended day one.
    More than 150 people from throughout the country took part in a well-structured program with an exacting time schedule. Nine panels addressed critical issues.
    Even as they spoke, one could see dozens of audience members tapping at their respective power books, iPhones, and other trappings of digital culture.
Perhaps, more than anything else, the constant Twittering symbolized the conference topic: How new modes, already in practice, are affecting the very nature of communication.
    Panelists included lawyers, academics, and writers — both traditional and cutting-edge. They represented such outfits as CNN, the Poynter Institute, National Public Radio, The New York Times, and the Center for Public Integrity blog.
    Participants too were from a wide variety of disciplines. All were united  in a quest to figure out:  What the hell is happening?
    There were a variety of opinion, but there was one common thread: Already there has been a seismic change in the “ecology” of information-sharing.
    The days of monopoly-owned print newspapers in big cities are pretty much over.  That does not mean print is dead. But the medium must transform itself if it is to survive.
Some expressed concern that American democracy itself is in peril. Or as one speaker put it: “It’s not only that the number of people who read newspaper is declining.  The number of people who do not get any news at all is also declining.”
   Thus, some talked in terms of crises. Others used the expression “creative destruction,” to describe what’s taking place.
   Paul Bass, founder of the  New Haven Independent, has an optimistic view of the whole paradigm-shift. “The only thing that is dying is the 20th-century style industrial approach.”
  In highly detailed, spirited presentations, panelists explored the fundamental question: Who and what will pay for the services of journalists in this new electronic environment? Possible sources include user fees, subsidies from government, and grants from philanthropies.
    The notion of subsidy is not new. In the past, it was advertisers who in essence funded serious, ongoing investigative reporting, which costs a lot of money. That may be changing.
     Recently, as a result of changes in technology, that ad revenue has declined precipitously for newspapers, along with paid circulation. Broadcast news and weekly news magazines have suffered huge setbacks, as well.
    Thus, the challenge: How can the services of skilled reporters be “monetized?”
No matter how high-tech the the approach, there will always been a need for the well-trained, ethical journalist, conference-goers agreed. Such a person adds context, background, coherence, and order to the rushing flow of data.
    The Yale event was sponsored by the Knight Commission, a think tank. Users can join the dialogue about how to sustain democracy in a digital age by visiting the website www.knightcomm.org or by using the Twitter hashtag #knightcomm.
    Here’s the full the roster of speakers and topics at the program: Conference program.

Here is a related link, too: http://lamponline.org/?p=215