National Press Room

Last week Callie and I went to a lecture series at the National Press Room in downtown D.C. entitled: "The Kalb Report: Journalism in Crisis." It was really cool. They were taping it for television. The panelists were the CEOs and Presidents of CNN, NPR, the Associated Press, and the Knight Foundation. It was interesting to hear what they thought about the future of journalism. I didn't really care for the AP or the CNN Presidents, was indifferent about the NPR President and really liked the Knight Foundation President. The moderator expressed concerns that newspapers were going under all over the nation, but the respective organizations of the panelists aren't suffering that much, so they didn't quite exhibit the level of concern that many in the audience did. The most interesting comment I heard was that with the growing surge to access News on the internet, people are able to get all of their news through a single lens/viewpoint...instead of listening to both sides of the debate in this country. Like only listening to FoxNews or only listening to CNN or MSNBC which all definitely put their own spin on stories. I think it's dangerous to the marketplace of ideas if those ideas aren't circulated widely. It's so valuable to listen to people who think differently than you do. That's one thing I love about going to law school at GW.

No one person or side has all the answers...we need to learn to communicate with each other. It's the true spirit of the old adage: two heads are better than one.

Check CSPAN for the broadcast. I was sitting near the stage on the side as was likely on camera at some point. :)