Welcome to The Poynter Institute for Media Studies.
We don’t always say those last three words: For Media Studies.
Most people know us as Poynter or, in an oddity I’ve never understood, THE Poynter.
Some know us by our marketing slogan: Poynter, A School for Journalists.
I’m focusing on these differences because it’s important that we stress tonight that this is an institute for media studies.
And this could be the most important gathering ever convened at Poynter, certainly the most notable to be focused on media studies.
I have, in that context, three confessions to make.
The first is that we here at Poynter do not have all the answers.
Yes, we teach. We also learn.
While we can –- and often should –- make declarations about journalism with the ring of authority, we treasure having established a place where unsettled issues can be discussed with vigor and openness.
This is one of those times.
As Larry Jinks or Bob Steele can attest, we’ve been eager to create a forum in which, without the customary preconceptions and rhetoric, leaders of the craft of journalism and leaders of the business of journalism help each other understand where their values must diverge -– and where their values can or should converge.
Gregory Favre, bless him, has brought you here in the belief that this may be the medium.
We’ll see, soon enough.
The second confession, with which some of my colleagues in journalism may disagree, is that we journalists have done an awful job of explaining our values.
We too often have cloaked our cultural habits or our newsroom traditions in the protective embrace of the First Amendment, thus diminishing the power of the values for which we really stand.
It’s only fair to note that some corporate leaders may too often have dismissed or too easily overridden the fears of newsroom leaders about the extent to which maximizing profit can minimize journalism.
What we hope to attain in the next day or so is a more reasoned dialogue about why journalism matters to the business and why business matters to the journalism.
In that connection, I want to especially urge you to give a respectful hearing tomorrow to Tom Rosenstiel, Phil Meyer, Rick Edmonds and Roy Clark.
They are trying to move the endless and fruitless conflict between the newsroom and the boardroom toward more common ground by conducting research about the relationship between business success and journalism success.
They are working toward the development of honest, neutral measurements of journalism capacity.
If they succeed, future discussions of corporate values can have more of a basis in hard fact than in self-protective rhetoric.
My third confession –- this may shock some of you –- is that The Poynter Institute understands the values of the boardroom.
Poynter owns a media corporation.
We care –- emphatically — about financial performance.
The very existence of this institute depends on the profitability of the Times Publishing Company.
One of the Principles of Ownership enunciated half a century ago by Nelson Poynter was this: “To maintain a strong editorial policy, a newspaper or broadcasting concern must be in a sound financial condition.”
The final confession is more personal.
My colleagues here have taken to greeting me with that annoying sound made by the AFLAC duck.
Yes, I’m a lame duck.
I’m hoping that this creates, for Poynter, a genuine opportunity.
In some ways, my presence here may have retarded Poynter’s ability to facilitate the values dialogue.
I make no apology for being outspoken in behalf of journalism and journalism values.
But let’s be honest: I bring baggage to that dialogue.
The remarkable woman who soon will succeed me does not.
Karen Dunlap cares deeply about journalism and its values. But where I might be accused of acting out of cultural identity or journalistic intuition, she cannot. She acts on research, on critical thinking, and on principle. When it comes to media studies, Dr. Karen Dunlap is the real deal.
What you do in this meeting will help Karen and her faculty colleagues shape meaningful programs to help set a proper balance between profit and public service in media ventures.
What you do after this meeting can influence the conduct not merely of your enterprises –- but of our profession and our industry.
Thank you. And good luck.
