FTC Puts Off Journalism Workshop
Sept. 15 Hearing Put Now Set for Dec. 1-2
by John Eggerton -- Multichannel News, 8/18/2009 1:07:47 PM
WASHINGTON — The Federal Trade Commission has rescheduled its workshop on the fate of journalism and expanded it from one to two days.
It had been slated for Sept. 15, but
has now been set for Dec. 1 and 2.
The workshop, "From Town Criers to Bloggers: How Will Journalism Survive the Internet Age," will bring together journalists, privacy experts, consumer advocates, online advertisers, academics, bloggers and others to talk about the economics of the business, and how antitrust, copyright or tax policy changes might be changed to help journalism "thrive."
One proposal has been to loosen antitrust restrictions and allow competitors to get together to figure out new business models.
The FTC says it will bring a "competition, consumer-protection, and First Amendment perspective" to challenges facing the news business "as consumers increasingly turn to the Internet for free news and information, advertisers increasingly move their ads onto online sites and reduce advertising buys as a result of the recession, and news organizations struggle with large debt that was taken on when times were better."
