Think of a central “box” that will serve as a single source for all media.

Think of portals, informational “holes,” a la Alice in Wonderland, that readers and listeners can drop down into, opening up to a whole new media.

Think of a more feminine-dominated industry that might spell not necessarily a softer approach to news, but a more communicative atmosphere.

Think of briefer, more easily-digestible news tidbits, news nuggets, if you will.

But if there is one major trend for the future of journalism, it is that technologically-savvy young people, not adults, will be leading the way, according to a wide range of presenters at the ASNE Institute.

“Young people are light years ahead of us as far as media is concerned,” said Kevin Weston, editor-in-chief of Youth Outlook magazine. “Follow them to the next thing.” That may be blogs or zines or video shooters, he said. The popularity of digital cameras and camcorders has allowed creative and motivated young people to communicate with a large audience -- without a huge cost.

For instance, Weston said that the large number of young soldiers returning from the war in Iraq has opened up the possibility of posting uncensored pictures and video to the Internet – honest footage that has not been churned through a major network studio. One of the stories posted on Weston’s Web site, YouthOutlook.org, is titled “The Things They Carried Home” and – like Tim O’Brian’s original work – features an unvarnished look at war.

The speed with which technology is changing is impacting many other facets of the news business, institute speakers said. Press law is pretty much floundering in the dust, for instance.

“Technology is so far ahead of the law that I can hardly begin to describe it,” said Tom Burke, a San Francisco attorney and libel expert who addressed teachers.

Emerging Internet law is not quite sure whether Web stories are covered by libel law or slander, he explained. “What’s going to happen after blogs?” Burke asked at one point. The wider field of communications, especially text-messaging, is in a legal nether world, he said. As soon as a third party reads a text message, he said, it is considered “published” under current libel law. That could expose some users to a legal hazard.

As school Web-based newspapers proliferate, the future might hold additional hazards, said Mark Goodman, founding executive director of the Student Press Law Center in Arlington, Va. The latest key court case governing student publications, Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier, “is very confusing…. It has muddied the waters,” Goodman said. He explained that a crucial legal standard established by the case revolves around whether school officials can justify censorship as having “valid educational purpose.”

Eight states, however, have made it more difficult for school districts to censor student publications by passing laws or regulations that more closely resemble the more liberal standard set in 1969 by Tinker v. Des Moines. California, Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas and Massachusetts have all passed laws, while Pennsylvania and Washington state have approved regulations, according to the SPLC.

Another huge problem that is arising, Goodman said, is the misuse or ignoring of copyright round the concept of a “valid educational purpose,” and that is truly a subjective decision.

According to professionals interviewed, other future trends include:

• Faster dissemination of news – John Raess, bureau chief of the San Francisco office of Associated Press, said news is sent out immediately after confirmation, and more and more outlets are subscribing to AP. Because of rolling deadlines, instant corrections, the burgeoning number of free newspapers, plus more and more electronic outlets for news briefs, “AP will flourish,” Raess said. AP is not tied to any one platform, has no press or paper to worry about, and no delivery trucks to gas up. “Whatever platform is dominant, we’ll be there,” Raess said.



• Multi-language editions of newspapers – While this is done on a limited basis now, more and more papers will publish editions in two languages, Raess said. “I imagine we’ll probably do Chinese,” he added.



• Much more up-to-date news due to multiple, rolling deadlines. “The pace of the work is much faster,” said Benny Evangelista, technology reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle. “I can write a story in an hour and have it posted on the web.”



• More and more people are uploading podcasts. “Fewer people are buying newspapers, but more people are reading us on-line,” Evangelista said.