I  just sat in a couple interesting days of presentations and discussion here at the Reynolds Journalism Institute. Dean Thorson and RJI hosted a gathering of scholars that was provocatively titled ” How Newspapers Could Have Saved Themselves and How Some Still Can” and brought together both academics and industry leaders to talk about marketing, econometrics, and research needs for the industry.

It was an intriguing couple of days and I learned a ton. I’ll post some more developed thoughts tomorrow as I get some time to ponder it during my travels to ICA in Chicago, but I did want to highlight one thing.

There were a few statements regarding social media that stuck out. One presenter referred to and as “fads” compared to the staying power of newspapers. During discussion today, when the integration with social media was brought up, several pointed out that Facebook isn’t profitable and thus doesn’t present a viable model for newspapers.

Two thoughts on this. Read more

Well, we aren’t into full interactivity mode with the White House web site, but America at least got out of the early 1990s with a new feature the Obama adminstration added to WhiteHouse.gov.

Obama promised in the 2008 campaign to allow for public comment on legislation sent to his desk. This weekend we got a look at how it’ll happen, as the White House provided a link for citizens to share public comment on the economic recovery bill.

Granted, it’s one way communication. People can type in their thoughts and send it on to whoever’s reading everything (assuming they are; I harbor no illusions that it might not be going into a server landfill somewhere), but there is no talk of getting a reply back or even the ability to see what others are saying. Read more