• by Adam Buckman , Featured Columnist, April 25, 2024

All eyes -- or at least the TV Blog’s eyes -- will be on a sprawling, 90-minute panel discussion event next Monday about no less a subject than the future of news.

The session -- “Spotlight On: News @ NewFronts” -- will conclude Day One of the 2024 IAB NewFronts, running Monday to Thursday in New York, and featuring presentations by some 30 companies -- some content companies and some not.

What exactly is the future of news in a digital world? And what does this have to do with interactive advertising?

These questions and others will hopefully be answered by 13 panelists representing top brands, both news and otherwise, plus host/moderator Michael Barbaro, host of the New York Times podcast “The Daily.”

The panel is well-populated with top media execs, including Cesar Conde, chairman of NBC Universal News Group and Mark Thompson, chairman and CEO of CNN Worldwide.

Also scheduled: Meredith Kopit Levien, president and CEO of The New York Times; Joy Robins, global chief advertising officer for the Times; Craig Kostelic, chief business officer of global commercial revenue for Condé Nast; Luis Romero, senior vice president of advertising for North America, The Guardian U.S.; Josh Stinchcomb, global chief revenue officer, media, Dow Jones and The Wall Street Journal; Deborah Turness, CEO of BBC news and current affairs; and Katherine Maher, president and CEO of NPR.

Also on the panel: Deva Bronson, executive vice president and global head of brand assurance at Dentsu; Shenan Reed, global chief media officer for General Motors; Susan Schiekofer, chief digital investment officer of GroupM North America; and Mark Zagorski, CEO of DoubleVerify.

Here is how IAB positions the discussion: “In an era where reliable information is more crucial than ever, we’re bringing together CEOs, thought leaders, advertisers and passionate individuals to spotlight media’s role in supporting quality journalism.

“Join us for an insightful ‘NewFronts’ event where we learn about the power of news to drive results for brands and how news publishers are making supporting news easier than ever.”

OK, now that we have gotten all of that out of the way and set the scene, some questions for the panelists come to mind -- mainly on the subject of “reliable information,” as it says in IAB’s boilerplate above.

In a world where trust of news media is in short supply, how do the panelists from the news side define “reliable information”?

And is such reliability -- i.e., trustworthiness -- possible in a journalistic landscape in which it is clear to everyone that journalism rooted in advocacy is overtaking unbiased reporting as the industry norm?

These questions could be directed first at the Times’s Levien although the moderator works for her) and NPR’s Maher, since the Times and NPR have been in the news lately for stories related to this very subject.

Editors and managers at the Times are reportedly pushing back at some newsroom staff who have been vocal in their displeasure with the way their own paper is covering hot-button issues -- most notably, the Israel-Hamas War. 

Some staffers feel the paper is favoring Israel and not giving enough attention to the suffering in Gaza, according to a Wall Street Journal story last week.

At NPR, a now-former editor, Uri Berliner, earlier this month publicly accused NPR of liberal bias. He was suspended, and then resigned. 

His accusations were made in an opinion piece published April 9 on thefp.com (The Free Press). The to-do is reportedly roiling the NPR staff. Panelist Katherine Maher joined NPR as its new CEO just last month.