Seattle City Councilmember Nick Licata, chair of the city's Culture, Civil Rights, Health and Personnel Committee, is dedicating a large part of the committee's Wed. Jan. 28 meeting to the topic: Is it Curtains for Daily Newspapers in the Culture of Democracy and Citizen Discourse?

Presenters so far include: Roger Simpson - Professor of Communication, University of Washington, Douglas Underwood - Professor of Communication, University of Washington, Anne Bremner - Seattle Attorney, Stafford Frey Cooper and Co-Chair of the Committee for a Two Newspaper Town, Beth Hester – Seattle Channel Programming Manager.

Here's a DRAFT outline of the meeting agenda as passed on by Licata's staff -- subject, of course, to lots of change. This sounds like a great event to attend, and certainly something to keep in mind as we plan our own. You can reach Licata at nick.licata@seattle.gov. The committee chair phone # is listed as 206.684.8803. Event will likely be held in Council Chambers, 2nd floor of City Hall. - Mónica

DRAFT - Outline for CCRHP Media Discussion, 1/28/09, 2 p.m.

 

“Is it Curtains for Daily Newspapers in the Culture of Democracy and Citizen Discourse?"

 

 

I.       Some sort of historical background on anti-trust media battles and importance of competition (Roger Simpson, UW Communications)

 

II.     Current situation in Seattle w/in the context of the nation (Doug Underwood, UW Communications)

 

III.     What are the options to maintain 2 daily print newspapers and living models of each? (Ann Bremner)

 

          A.  Non-Profit Ownership

 

          B.  Employee Coop Ownership

 

          C.  Public Ownership

 

IV.     If Seattle became a one daily print newspaper town what other forms of media have new critical roles and what are they (and not) equipped to do?

 

          A.  Web –based Newspapers (?)

 

          B.  Blogging (?)

 

C.     Government Media  (Beth Hester, Seattle Channel Programming Director)

 

V.      What next?