Harvard Journalism Lab Director has strong words for newspaper industry

Joshua Benton is young, smart and on a mission to change the way journalists and traditional news organizations act and think.

Benton is a Yale grad, former reporter for the Dallas Morning News and a former Nieman Fellow in journalism at Harvard.

He now directs the new Journalism Lab at Harvard which is self-described as "a collaborative attempt to figure out how quality journalism can survive and thrive in the Internet age."







I interviewed Josh in the Walter Lippman House at Harvard for almost two hours on March 2. His comments were entertaining and somewhat surprising for a Harvard guy.

He talked about why the audience is bored with newspapers, what reporters can learn from bloggers and why he compares newspapers to Wonder Bread.

Here are some edited clips of that interview:

What does the Internet have that newspapers don't (besides an audience)?



What is the role of "citizen media"?



Why are blogs so appealing? What can reporters learn from bloggers?


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