---
title: "PEJ’s Virtual Roundtable Summer Series"
description: "The Project for Excellence in Journalism has put together a series of nine online panel discussions of industry leaders about the future of journalism."
date: "2006-07-09"
authors:
  - name: "Pew Research Center: Journalism & Media staff"
    job_title: "Guest Contributor"
url: "https://www.pewresearch.org/journalism/2006/07/09/pejs-virtual-roundtable-summer-series/"
---

# PEJ’s Virtual Roundtable Summer Series

The Project for Excellence in Journalism has put together a series of nine online panel discussions of industry leaders about the future of journalism. The roundtables began on July 10th.

The virtual roundtables were put together in a particular way. PEJ contacted a group of industry experts for nine different media sectors—network news, newspapers, cable news, magazines, local TV news, radio, online, ethnic media and alternative newspapers. For each panel, we posed a series of questions via e-mail, gathered responses into a roundtable format, and edited minimally for flow. We then sent the assembled roundtables back to each respondent, allowing them to revise or extend their remarks. The result, we hope, represents a new form of communication—a virtual panel discussion.

The panelists for the roundtables include:

For [Alternative Newsweeklies:](/node/1572) **Matt Gibson**, Publisher, The Missoula Independent; **Julia Goldberg**, Editor, Santa Fe Reporter; **Richard Karpel**, Executive Director, Association of Alternative Newsweeklies; **Alison True**, Editor, Chicago Reader

For [Cable TV](/node/1477)**: Rick Kaplan**, former President and General Manager, MSNBC; **George Niesen**, Managing Editor, Kagan Research; **David Payne**, Senior VP, CNN News Services & General Manager, CNN.com; **Judy Woodruff**, Special Correspondent (Next Generation Initiative), MacNeil/Lehrer Productions

For [Ethnic Media](/node/1479): **Sandy Close**, Executive Director, New American Media; **Ahn Do**, Editor, Nguoi Viet 2 News; **Juana Ponce de Leon**, Director, Independent Press Association of New York; **Edward Schumacher**, Publisher, Rumbo Newspapers

For** **[Local TV](/node/1476): **Bob Chirdon**, Vice President and General Manager, WTOL Channel 11; **Scott Libin**, Leadership & Management Faculty, Poynter Institute; **Kay Miller**, News Director, WWSB TV; **Deborah Potter**, President and Executive Director, News Lab; **Don Shelby**, Anchor/ Reporter, WCCO

For** **[Magazines](/node/1475): **William Falk**, Editor, The Week; **Samir Husni**, Chairperson, University of Mississippi Journalism Department and author of “Samir Husni's Guide to New Magazines”; **Daniel Okrent**, former Editor, Time Inc. New Media; **Victor Navasky**, Chairman, Columbia Journalism Review; former Editor, The Nation

For [Network TV](/node/943): **Tom Bettag**, former Executive Producer, Nightline; Executive Producer, Discovery Networks; **Jeff Gralnick**, 48-year veteran of broadcast news, has worked for all three networks; **Neal Shapiro**, former President, NBC News; **Andrew Tyndall**, Publisher, The Tyndall Report

For [Newspapers](/node/945):** John Carroll**, editor of the Los Angeles Times from 2000 to 2005; **Paul Ginocchio**, Media Analyst for Deutsche Bank; **Rick Edmonds**, Researcher and Writer for the Poynter Institute; **Phil Meyer**, Knight Chair in Journalism, School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of North Carolina; **Rick Rodriguez**, Executive Editor and Senior Vice President of The Sacramento Bee, and in 2005-2006, President of the American Society of Newspaper Editors; **Lou Ureneck**, Director of the Business and Economics Journalism program at Boston University.

For [Online: ](/node/1760) **Robert Cox**, president of the Media Bloggers Association (MBA); **Dan Gillmor**, a Bay Area-based blogger who was previously a columnist for the San Jose Mercury News; **James “Jay” Hamilton**, Charles S. Sydnor Professor of Public Policy Studies at Duke University; **Jeff Jarvis**, a former critic for TV Guide and People magazine who now blogs at www.buzzmachine.com; **Lee Rainie**, founding director of the Pew Internet & American Life Project located in Washington DC.

For [Radio](/node/944):** Bill Buzenberg**, Senior Vice President, News - Minnesota Public Radio; **Tim Curran**, News Director, Sirius OutQ; **Adam Powell**, Director, Integrated Media Systems Center, USC; **Dale Willman**, Executive Editor, Field Notes Productions