The summit got off to a great start.  The room was packed and I had to scramble to find a seat in the keynote session. Juan Williams, Senior Correspondent for NPR and Political Analyst for FoxNews, spoke on how new media is affecting the news media.

A fitting way to start this conference, as new media is indeed changing our lives.

And it is change that Juan spoke about.  A monumental change is impacting America, he says. The perception of journalism and reporters has shifted from a romantic superhero  - Lois Lane and Clark Kent - to the hard hitting investigative syle of Woodward and Bernstein after truth and justice to the current mistrust and lack of credibility. Our view of the media is at an all time low.

And so too has gone the American appetite for news.  What drives the numbers today is the saga of Paris Hilton, not world affairs. Corrupt politicians?  Corporate scandals? Oh well….

In the last 10 years we have seen tremendous political change:  we’ve impeached a President, lived through 9/11 and learned to live with increased security levels and the Patriot Act.

We also live in a time of demographic change: according to the Census Board we now have 300 million Americans, and they’re of every colour and creed.  Immigration is higher than ever before and they’re not only from Europe -  they’re coming from Asia, Latin America, Africa and the  independent states of the old USSR.  Diversity no longer means black and white and this wave of immigration is challenging the American identity. 

Within 25 years the Census Board predicts we will reach 400 milion!  One quarter of our population is under 18 and most of the movies and products are being crafted for this young audience. This youth market thinks and acts very differently.

Juan tells how he went to a college to find out just how different kids are today and he discovered another big demographic shift: young women have come to the fore.  8/10 of the top students were young women.  7/10 of the top leaders in the school were women.  Half of the best athletes were women.  Women also dominate most areas of graduate study.

Young men are not competitive with young women today and it’s creating a dynamic social change. Affirmative action in America now means making sure you have enough males.

We’ve also seen economic change. in the last 100 years we have gone from an agricultural economy through industrial and informational to hi-tech and bio-tech. To survive and thrive in this economic environment you need a high level of education.  A strong back and a will to work are no longer enough. It’s about knowledge workers, not physical workers.

The modern media is telling their stories in this environment of change. Media technology has evolved along with the rest of the changes. Newspapers, radio and TV, and now the Internet.  We have moved to a minute by minute news cycle unbound by place and time.  People can get the news they want, when they want, where they want.

When you ask people where they get their news today the answers are very different than a few years ago.  They rarely mention a journalist or a news program by name anymore.  It’s now about people they trust.

We have new media and the stuggling old media.  Even the Wall St. Journal is up for sale.  We are into an era of infotainment.  People are looking for a ‘quick news fix’ from someone just like me - someone I can trust.

We’ve gone from Walter Cronkite telling us what the news is about to a fractured news environment that  feeds people what they want to hear. And it’s driven by celebrities and gossip.  It’s no longer about the big picture of American life. 

This is the environment into which you’re delivering your messages. Getting their attention is going to depend on gaining their trust. Fashioning stories with a sense of  credibility and trust will carry you beyond the ordinary. People and companies who can help Americans understand who they are, and how to deal with the shifting sand beneath their feet, will win their hearts and minds.