GSI Social Media Brunch ~ June 2009 June 4, 2009

Thursday, June 4th at 11:00 am Pacific / 2:00 pm Eastern.

Can't be there in person? No problem! Join the live webcast: http://cli.gs/livestream

U P D A T E :

Phil Bronstein, former Executive Vice President of The San Francisco Chronicle and current Editor-at-Large with Hearst Newspapers, will be joining us at this month’s GSI Social Media Brunch.

Phil Bronstein got his start in the news industry at KQED-TV in San Francisco. He later went on to work for The San Francisco Examiner, where he was a Pulitzer Prize finalist for his coverage of conflicts in Southeast Asia. He was named Executive Vice President of The San Francisco Chronicle in March of 2003.

In 2007, Bronstein famously called an emergency meeting of the Chronicle’s staff to announce that the newspaper business model “is broken, and no one knows how to fix it.” He also added that “if any other paper says they do, they’re lying.” The Chronicle continues to face financial difficulties, and recently announced that they are looking for a buyer.

Many people believe that the changing face of online media is to blame for the recent rash of newspapers cutting back staff and closing up shop, with citizen reporters, editorial bloggers, and online classifieds such as craigslist all serving to undermine the newspaper business model. Is social media to blame for the end of journalism as we know it? Can social media save dying newspapers?

We look forward to the conversation with Phil Bronstein, who can be found on Twitter as @PhilBronstein.

* * * * * * * * * *

The news just keeps getting worse for the newspaper industry:

* Last February, EW Scripps decided to shut down The Rocky Mountain News literally overnight.
* Circulation at 11 of 25 major newspapers has declined more than 10% in the last six months, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations
* Warren Buffet recently proclaimed that he “would not buy [a newspaper] at any price.”

In this age where the user can self publish and “the media” (quotation marks intentional) is less trusted than peer reporting, can social media interface with a dying news industry, and should rescuing traditional print newspapers even be the goal?

Official Website: http://cli.gs/GSIsmb6