I was interested in hearing what my colleagues on the panel and I would say.

• The future of journalism is digital — and journalism now is digital.
• You don’t need to wait to take college courses to learn technology. Take courses online (newsu.org and lynda.com), read a book on a software application, work on it on your own.
• Journalists will exist in the future but more of them will be working independently or on contract and fewer working for news organizations. [Several panelists had to struggle some with saying “news organizations” and not “newspapers.”]
• Students really need to seek out internships.

I was interested in hearing what the students would ask.

• Are faculty members learning technology skills themselves and how?
• What is a special recollection each panelist has about working in the media?
• Can journalists really be unbiased?
• Is the college requiring students to have Mac laptops? [Actually, only the Journalism and Public Relations departments have agreed on that requirement. The Mac laptop requirement will be phased in as it is included in the course catalog.]

I was interested in seeing if I’d learn something new about curriculum developments. No. But I also wasn’t surprised by any revelations that I hadn’t heard about.

Good for SPJ and The Fine Print for organizing the Town Hall Meeting. It was a good start on more conversations about the media industry and what students can (and faculty can) be doing to be better prepared.