I just participated in a panel discussion on media censorship at PSU. I feel like a freaking journalism professor! Something few journalists admit is we love being asked to speak at universities. It makes us feel like our opinions actually matter. Especially when at least a dozen people show:

PSU MEDIA STUDENTS: Imbibing my smart opinions like holy wine…

Also present were Jenka Soderberg, News and Public affairs director for KBOO 90.7 FM, and a chap named Alain (who everybody was mispronouncing “Elaine”) from Portland Community Media.

I said, sarcastically, that I thought blogs were a terrible idea, because all of a sudden everybody can say what they want, and the “journalist’s” professional pedestal is worn away. I said the secret no one in the media wants to admit is that the internet is stripping us of our status as opinion makers, and therefore, threatening our livelihoods. Blogs take us back to the era when anybody could publish a newspaper, before media consolidation and effective censorship, argued Soderberg. I agreed: It’s everyone for themselves out there. With so few barriers to publication, all that matters is one’s ability to gain eyeballs. We also talked about the Oregonian’s failure to cover anything on the controversial sit/lie ordinance, or to write about the rent-a-cops downtown, and even discussed the media’s presentation of the death of James Chasse.

Thanks to Josh Stohl for inviting me along to feel important. There are more panel discussions throughout the day at PSU’s Smith Hall on the second floor. At 2:30 pm, there’s a discussion of music and media, and at 4:00 pm, a discussion about media and politics. You could do worse…