JOURNALISM IN THE AMERICAS

The U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet called a hearing last week at which several industry executives presented their views on the future of journalism in the digital age, AFP reports.

A Texas newspaper publisher, a former Baltimore Sun reporter, a top executive from Google, and the founder of The Huffington Post website all took the stage at the hearing to discuss whether online journalism will sustain the values of professional journalism the same way newspapers have.

Here is some of what they said:

*Huffington Post founder Arianna Huffington told the senators they should look to a "pro-am model," where amateur reporters (citizen journalists) get guidance from professional journalists and editors, the Los Angeles Times reports.

She praised Web sites like the Voice of San Diego that have had success in local investigative reporting. She also mentioned the launch of an investigative team at her own enterprise, the Times reports.

*Former Baltimore Sun reporter and creator of the television show, The Wire, David Simon, was less optimistic about citizen journalism, saying it was well intentioned but ineffective. Simon suggested the government create tax incentives for newspaper chains to transfer ownership of papers to locally managed nonprofits and that the government relax monopoly prohibitions so newspaper owners can collaboratively plan an industry-wide transition to a paid, online subscriber base, the Guardian reports.

*Dallas Morning News publisher James Moroney blamed news aggregators like Google News and Amazon for the current decline in ad revenue. He argued it would be beneficial if the government tried to cut the revenue-sharing agreements between print organizations and these online organizations through an antitrust exemption, the Los Angeles Times reports.

*Google vice president Marissa Mayer pointed out that Google drives a lot of traffic to news sites and suggested that newspapers should be mending their product, improving "reader engagement" by better directing readers from one story to another through similar features and advertising, the Los Angeles Times reports.

*Alberto Ibargüen, president and CEO of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, suggested several ways federal lawmakers could act to maintain the flow of information in communities. His suggestions for the lawmakers included: ensure universal digital and internet access, encourage media experimentation, and examine possible laws that would make it easier to create local nonprofit news organizations. (Read Ibargüen's testimony here.)

Poynter's Bill Mitchell also shares his view on the hearing here.