I spoke at the Denver Press Club Thursday evening for ASMP (The American Society of Media Photographers) about New Media Secrets. Sadly, this was the same day E.W. Scripps announced the closing of Denver’s 150-year-old newspaper, the Rocky Mountain News. 

How ironic.

When I arrived at the press club, a local TV crew was setting up for a live shoot. Not everyone knew what it was about.  The closing had just been announced a couple hours earlier and had not been disseminated fully via traditional media channels.

How did I find out? Twitter via a PDN (Photo District News) Tweet.  How did PDN find out? Twitter via the Tweets of the saddened reporters sharing their thoughts. They tweeted throughout the afternoon describing the details of the shutdown and memories of their beloved newspaper.

Chances are people on Twitter as well as other new and social media channels knew of the closing before it was announced by any of the mainstream media sources. 

New and social media are relevant.

I’ve already written about some of the reasons why I believe newspapers (Epitaph: Here lies 30 percent profit) are dying. Having been a victim of newspaper downsizing, I have no desire to kick people when they are down. 

But, I do have to say, the owners of the newspapers failed the communities that entrusted them with such an important resource many years ago. We are now paying the price.

New media is here to stay.  I spent a lot of time last night trying to convince a room of about 50 people that their voice is more  important than ever. Social media is our future. We need to care and find the time to contribute to the conversation.

I include myself in the group of new and social media advocates who  still believe in traditional media.

One of my favorite podcasters and digital marketing expert,  Mitch Joel,  started writing a bi-weekly newspaper column within the last year and will have a book published in the fall.  Guru C.C. Chapman was the social media hero after being interview on CNN on Inauguration Day. 

Mainstream media are still beneficial, powerful and necessary.

As for me, last night I joined group of photographers who decided to take the seats at the empty bar behind the TV reporter during his live report, allowing the backs of our heads their 15 seconds of fame.  It was fun, hey, did you see me? 

Rosh