While some might think the newspaper industry is on a down-hill slope, Monday's Professionals-in-Residence gave hope to students in the College of Communication Information and Media about the future of news media.
Gretchen Letterman spoke to a packed David Letterman Communications and Media Building about the future of the news industry and reminded students about the impact digital media is having on every-day life.
Letterman, sister of David Letterman, said college students are already comfortable with the digital world which gives them an advantage when going into the job market.
"I expect [students] to take that [digital] fluency and bring it in to the media," she said. "And help us be smarter, to be better and to be stronger."
Letterman asked for ideas from the audience about what could amplify the news reading audience.
Sophomore telecommunications student Veronica Beamon said she thought the new ideas she heard that apply to the industry were interesting.
"I think [the speech] was pretty informative," she said. "That we heard to what the speaker and college students had to share."
Roger Lavery, the Dean of CCIM said he believed Professionals in Residence were a good way to share information between students and speakers.
"These kinds of exchanges are very dynamic and very important to a professional program," he said. "So I am very pleased."
He said Letterman's speech was motivating for students that are worrying about the economic situation.
"There's so much heard that is negative about the press," Lavery said. "But the reality is that the industry isn't going to go away. In fact, the demand for news information is only going up."
He said he expects young people to shape how the industry is being directed.
"The best that we can do is prepare our students to be flexible and adaptable," he said. "To take what they know and apply it to new technologies for new audiences."
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