Big Ol' Babies: Why Baby Boomers=Public Media FAIL
Public Media, or at least the public media funding model, has been cited as the future of the journalism industry. As Public Media continues to face funding challenges, there is an ongoing face-off between digital natives working towards innovation and baby boomers working to stay buoyant during uncertain times. The two groups seem to constantly disagree about what public media should be doing at this moment in time. Are the decisions made by the older generation too safe? Conversely, where are baby boomers' decisions risky but misguided? Legacy staff need to regard their younger colleagues as valuable resources necessary for the survival and success of public media moving forward. What themes of conflict are emerging between the two generations across organizations? This panel identifies the top 10 key challenges contributing to the stagnancy of public media and explores what actions we would take to ensure public media's future if we were in charge.
Presenters
Adam Schweigert worked in public media for the past 8 years leading digital innovation at two different NPR/PBS member stations (WOSU Public Media in Columbus, Ohio and Indiana Public Media in Bloomington, Indiana). He recently made the jump to the private sector where he is presently Director of Strategy for Mindset Digital, a Columbus, Ohio based firm providing customized social media training and strategic consulting for Fortune 500 companies and institutions of higher education.
Dee Kapila is an Instructional Technologist at the University of Texas, Austin where her work focuses on integrating innovative and emerging technologies into the higher education arena. Previously, Dee served as the Web Manager for NPR affiliate station KUT Austin and before that as the Technology & Program Manager for Austin non-profit Girlstart. Dee currently serves on the Board of Directors for the non-profit Girls Rock Austin.
Dee's experience spans the tech, media and non-profit industries and her work is focused on growth & sustainability through technology-driven, community-supported initiatives.
Former product manager for PBS.org -- now product manager for Dell.com's global online content tools.
SVP & Chief Digital Officer, NBC News
As Senior Vice President and Chief Digital Officer at NBC News, Vivian Schiller leads the digital strategy for both NBC News and MSNBC to ensure future growth and innovation. She joined NBC in July of 2011. Her responsibilities include strategic oversight of the network’s digital extensions on the web, in mobile and social media, the network’s new emerging properties such as NBCLatino.com and theGrio.com, and represents NBC News to the Joint Venture with Microsoft that oversees the Msnbc.com Digital Network.
In addition to her role as Chief Digital Officer, Schiller oversees NBC News’ Education initiatives—NBC Learn, the educational arm of NBC News, and Education Nation, NBC News’ initiative to engage the country in a solutions-focused conversation about the state of education in America. This includes oversight of partnerships, tour events, an annual national summit and EducationNation.com.
She also represents NBC News on the board of Msnbc.com Digital Network and the board of The Weather Channel.
Schiller was most recently President and CEO of NPR, leading all of NPR's worldwide media operations, including the organization's partnerships with a network of more than 900 public radio stations. During her tenure, NPR received the highest honors in excellence in journalism, grew its audience by double digits, and earned recognition in the mobile and digital space.
Prior to joining NPR, Schiller served at The New York Times Company as Senior Vice President and General Manager of NYTimes.com. Schiller led the day-to-day operations of NYTimes.com, the largest newspaper website on the Internet, overseeing product, technology, marketing, classifieds, strategic planning, and business development.
Previously, Schiller spent four years as Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Discovery Times Channel, a joint venture of The New York Times and Discovery Communications. Schiller launched the network, and under her leadership, Discovery Times Channel tripled its distribution while achieving critical acclaim for its award winning journalistic programming.
Schiller also served as the head of CNN Productions, where she led CNN's long-form programming efforts. Documentaries and series produced under her auspices earned multiple honors, including three Peabody Awards, four Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia University Awards, and dozens of Emmys.
Schiller resides in Bethesda, MD, with her husband and two children.
Saturday, March 10
