In a digital environment, where news consumers can also be news producers, how should traditional news media respond? Is citizen journalism a threat or an opportunity?
The second Journalism Leaders’ Forum at the University of Central Lancashire on January 31st will bring together exponents of traditional and new media to debate these questions.
Dan Gillmor is author of We the Media. A former US newspaperman, he is one of the web’s leading advocates of grassroots journalism.
Pete Clifton is Editor of BBC News Interactive, responsible for one of the web’s most successful news sites.
Cath Hearne is editor of BBC London’s nightly news programme and was at the helm on July 7th, a day in which some of the most vivid images of the London bombings were contributed by members of the public.
John Fray is Deputy General Secretary of the National Union of Journalists, which represents 35000 journalists in the UK and Ireland.
And Mike Ward is author of Journalism Online and head of the journalism department at UCLAN.
The debate will be chaired by Nigel Kay, former Head of Journalism Development at the BBC and now an Industrial Fellow at UCLAN. “Traditional journalism stands at the threshold of the digital age, uncertain about what lies ahead,” says Kay. “This discussion will tackle some of those concerns and seek to identify the opportunities.”
The event, which forms part of the residential week programme for participants in the Department of Journalism's new Journalism Leaders Programme, is open to all - practitioners, academics, would-be journalists and others who are interested in the challenges journalists face.
To attend this free programme at 6:30pm on Tuesday, 31st January, in Greenbank Lecture Theatre in Preston - as well as the reception from 5:45pm - please RSVP to FPNel@uclan.ac.uk .
If you can't be there in person, there are other ways to join the discussion. You can post your questions and comments on this site, or you can view the live Webcast by logging in as a guest at: http://breeze01.uclan.ac.uk/r81768061/.
Better still, do both. And let's get the discussion going.
