Ken Paulson of the Newseum, photo courtesy of "Google Images"
Ken Paulson of the Newseum, made an appearance on C-SPAN to discuss First Amendment issues and the state of journalism today.
Paulson, who is the president and chief operating officer of the Freedom Forum at the Newseum and former editor at USA Today, joined students from George Mason University, Pace University, and the University of Denver via video conference for the discussion. Steve Scully, the political editor of C-SPAN, proctored the discussion.
The first issue discussed was where Paulson felt journalism is in a new, digital world, and where it is going. Upon seeing the newly released iPad shown by George Mason’s own, professor Steve Klein, he offered his opinion on the iPad’s impact.
“I think it will help (the newspaper business),” Paulson said.
Paulson then went on to say he believes that 10 years from now, newspapers will still be sold. However, he said something must be done in order to gain profit from all the free online platforms many Americans get their news from.
“Free is a very good price,” he said.
Paulson also gave a very unique proposition where the students had to imagine the digital age was the previous form of gaining news, and this new invention, the newspaper was sweeping everyone off their feet.
Following the intriguing technological reversal, students then started to ask Paulson about his area of experty, the First Amendment. Paulson responded by saying the “Land of the free has become the home of the easily offended.” However, Paulson feels the First Amendment is still intact and has been quite flexible throughout history.
At the end of the discussion, Paulson told the students that it is still a great time to be a journalist in a time when the newspaper business is not doing particularly well. He emphasized that being objective was critical and that despite viewer criticism of network news being biased, news outlets today are more objective than ever.
“It’s not only good journalism, it’s good business,” he said.
Students walked away with a professional opinion on First Amendment issues and encouragement that in a troubled market, they could succeed as a journalist.