In the opening salvo of the World Conference of Science Journalists, three speakers debated the role of new media in the science journalism of tomorrow. What follows is an account of the session and personal opinions on some of the issues raised.
How online news can evolve (and have blogs and other media already beaten it there?)
Krishna Bharat, founder of Google News and owner of the incredible job title of "Distinguished Researcher", kicked things off with a whirlwind tour of ideas on the future of online news. He touched on each one for the briefest of moments:
He highlighted Google News as a way of gaining access to "thousands of other perspectives".
He talked about encouraging links between different news sources so that people cooperate rather than compete over the same story.
He cited the Wikipedia page on the swine flu pandemic could easily be seen as a "living ...