On Friday, Rick Turoczy attended a City Club forum discussing the future of newspapers. There was some resulting discussion on Twitter about newspapers, journalism, and open vs. closed communication. As the news industry faces radical changes and many traditional news operations face financial peril, it is obvious that journalists need to adapt or die. I think the distinction between the work of journalists and the method of delivery needs to be recognized… journalism and newspapers (or TV) are two separate things, and the failure of the delivery mechanism does not mean that journalism itself is a failure.

While there are many folks in the media that “get” the internet, RSS, Twitter, and the like, there are many that still don’t. Fortunately there are a lot of folks in the digital world interested in helping journalists understand the new media.

Rick and I would like to lead a discussion to bring together bloggers and journalists at BarCampPortland to talk about journalism, media, and change. I think that traditional journalists can learn a few things from bloggers, and bloggers have a lot to learn about the practice of journalism. Let’s get some of the bright folks from both groups together and talk.

We need some help: while a lot of bloggers and geeks will be at BarCamp, odds are that many traditional journalists haven’t even heard of it. Any help in spreading the word amongst media folks would be much appredciated; hopefully we can have a great cross-section of folks in the discussion. BarCamp Portland is May 1-2 at CubeSpace (this discussion will be on Saturday).

Update: A few folks have asked about what time the discussion will be held. BarCamp is an unconference, meaning that the schedule and topics are set during the event by the attendees. Rick and I will target the discussion for the morning of the 2nd, between 9-noon. We can’t guarantee an exact time but should be able to narrow it down to that window. That said, if journalists are looking to get an insight into the blogger/geek/new media culture, hanging out for BarCamp (beyond the journalistm/media discussion) would be an excellent way to get a taste of that world.