'Future of Media' guest speaker series open to campus community

As the
Los Angeles Times
and other newspapers wobble and digital news sources grow, what is the future of the media business?

Find out some of the latest thinking on that topic at a guest lecture series organized by veteran journalist and publisher Bob Magnuson, Chapman University’s new Distinguished Fellow in Media and Communications. Magnuson has assembled a semester-long schedule of guest speakers as part of “The Future of Media” freshman foundations course he’s teaching and made the talks open to the campus community.

Magnuson has 26 years of experience in the media business. He has been a reporter, editor, publisher, CEO and consultant. He currently is president of Magnuson & Company, a consulting firm based in Laguna Beach. Previously, Magnuson was president and CEO of InfoWorld Media Group, and before that spent nearly 20 years at the
Los Angeles Times
, serving as publisher of the
Times Orange County Edition
. Earlier in his career, Magnuson was Hong Kong bureau chief of the
Asian Wall Street Journal
, business editor of the
Oakland Tribune
and an associate economics editor for
Business Week
magazine.

The guest talks are scheduled from 10 to 11:15 a.m. in Argyros Forum 206B. The schedule includes:

• Thursday, Sept. 8: In a Digital World, Does Good Writing Still Matter? Shawn Hubler, former staff writer and columnist, Los Angeles Times; currently columnist, Orange Coast magazine.
• Thursday, Sept. 15: Trends in Digital Journalism: Gustavo Arellano, Managing Editor, OC Weekly; syndicated columnist, iAsk a Mexican!
• Tuesday, Sept. 20: Media and Democracy: Ruben Vives, LA Times reporter, Winner, 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for coverage of the City of Bell fiscal scandal.
• Thursday, Oct. 13: The Decline of “Old Media”: Rick Reiff, Executive Editor, OC Business Journal; Host Inside OC on PBS SoCal.
• Tuesday, Oct. 18: Past, Present and Future at the Los Angeles Times: Leo Wolinsky, journalism consultant, former Managing Editor, LA Times; former Editor, Daily Variety.
• Thursday, Oct. 27: The “New Media” Business: Joel Sappell, former LA Times City Editor and Executive Editor of latimes.com; currently Deputy for Special Projects, LA County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky.
• Thursday, Nov. 3: Google, Facebook, Twitter and the Future of Social Media: Ian Hamilton, OC Register Technology Reporter and author of OC Unwired blog.
• Thursday, Nov. 10: The Future of “Spin”–Strategic Communications and Corporate PR: Bill Blanning, former Vice President, Global Media Relations, Broadcom Corporation.