Mash-Up or Collision

        Last week, I participated in a Radio and TV News Directors Foundation panel commemorating the journalistic life and times of the seminal 20^th Century broadcast journalist, Edward R. Murrow. While the first night focused on Murrow and his legacy from those who knew him best--including his son, Casey--the rest of the event shifted forward to what the networks and their local counterparts must do if they are to compete and thrive in this digital age. The discussions, held at the regal McCormick estate, Cantigny, near Chicago, were erudite, reasoned and thoughtful.

        And this week, I rocked out at the annual Webby Film and Video Awards in New York, celebrating TitanTV's Webby People's Voice Award for TitanGreens.com, our sassy and witty collection of environmental programs.  TitanTV VP and General Manager Laura van Straaten, host Liza de Guia, Senior Producer Morgan Jones and I rubbed shoulders with--well, we were in the same room as--the well-known (SNL's Lorne Michaels, actress Rosie Perez, et al.), the somewhat well-known (30 Rock's Judah Friedlander, who hosted the event, et al.) and those who became known for doing things on YouTube (crooner Tay Zonday of "Chocolate Rain" fame, et al.). The awards ceremony was held at NYU's Skirball Center overlooking Washington Square; then the party moved to a trendy space--formerly a synagogue--on the Lower East Side. There was little introspection, just lots of creative work being rewarded with acceptance speeches of five words (Liza's thank-you for TitanGreens.com was "Gore's hilarious love child accepts").

        I marveled at the breadth and depth of the work honored: from Hometown Baghdad, which vividly explores what happens when war comes to your neighborhood, to The Onion's fake newscasts that brilliantly ape the worst of  cable news blather. We met a high school junior who won a People's Voice Webby for San Ramon Valley High School. She directed a video on the lack of affordable housing in the Bay area. Her parents were beaming.

        If there was fretting about the future, I didn't hear it or see it or feel it.

        Back at the Murrow event, I was on a panel exploring how local television stays relevant and profitable at a time when news is becoming a commodity, available everywhere, at any time. Of course, how stations continue to be a trusted local resource and valuable advertising vehicle is a critical issue.

        Attending the conference were veterans older than I, a goodly number of boomers like myself who share the same cultural and political touchstones, and a group of younger professionals. At the Webbys, I nodded sympathetically to the beaming father of the California teenager. We, along with a scattering of others, were vastly outnumbered by those in their twenties.

        Are these two events evident of a collision of cultures and entertainment forms that the Webby generation has already won? Is it truly over for the generations that built their careers first emulating Murrow, then Watergate's Woodward and Bernstein? Has the sun already set on the networks and the locals, only they don't know it yet?

        Not necessarily.

        Traditional media--television and radio and print--still dwarfs new media when it comes to advertising dollars. And let's not forget: a lot of new media is owned by such 20^th century mainstays as NBC (which owns Hulu) and FOX (MySpace). One of the multiple winners at the Webbys in various online video categories was The New York Times.

        It would be naïve to believe, however, that all of the traditional media will survive this new age. There will be casualties. Thus far, the cool, outside-the-box journalists and producers who work for such video content companies as TitanTV Media and "Chat the Planet" which produces Hometown Baghdad are generally not the same kind of folks who want to work in the corporate structure of a newsroom.  While there are television stations and groups that embrace change, overall, it comes slowly. A very smart new media executive, whose company works with local television stations, expressed frustration to me the other day about some of his dealings inside stations: "They still don't get it. They still try to hold stories for the 6 P.M. news, rather than get it on their web site immediately. They don't understand that it's not about a scheduled newscast, but about their overall brand." In many markets, the so-called dinosaur newspapers have equipped their staffs with small cameras and are often getting video on their sites sooner than television stations do on theirs.

        Local television plays a vital role in our communities. For that role to continue, smart executives and producers have to understand that the world has changed radically over the past few years.

        Just ask Tay Zonday.

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