UW-Madison alumnus and CBS Senior Political Correspondent Jeff Greenfield spoke about the state of ""the business and the craft"" of modern journalism and his hopes for its future Thursday.
A 1964 School of Journalism graduate and former editor in chief of The Daily Cardinal, Greenfield drew on his experience as a speechwriter for Sen. Robert F. Kennedy and his positions as news analyst and commentator with CBS and CNN.
""Thanks to technology, we've been diverted,"" explained Greenfield, saying rather than being limited to a single newspaper or a few news networks, consumers today can seek out what interests them and then view it for free.
""There are three thing all news media know you can get money for: sports, sex and finance,"" he summed up.
Greenfield said the news consumption of this generation and former generations has fulfilled the old adage, ""you won't pay for the cow if the milk is free,"" because readers can select the news content they want for free without paying for the rest of a paper.
Overcoming this attitude, ""is going to be the challenge of our times,"" Greenfield asserted.
Greenfield said he sees hope in new forms of online journalism using traditional reporting and the potential for ""new, emerging forms of journalism that will attract younger people.""
One way to attract this audience, Greenfield said, is addressing the sense of urgency many young people feel facing an uncertain economic future.
""Maybe it will help if we tell them, ‘You're screwed!'"" Greenfield suggested. ""There's too many of us getting old and too few who are young and the burden is going to be on you. Are you listening now?""
Nonetheless, two School of Journalism students in attendance, Ian McCue and Andria Casey, said Greenfield's speech was ""a little less dire"" than many they had heard.
""I came here for the extra credit, but I appreciated the speech,"" McCue said. ""I thought he had a lot of really insightful ideas about where the media is going.""
For his part, Greenfield said, ""my hope is that there will be good, meaningful journalism … that we've survived this revolution in good shape.""
