Eric Schmidt Addresses NAA

Google President, Eric Schmidt

I didn’t have the opportunity to listen to Eric Schmidt’s keynote address live at the Newspaper Association of America national conference. However, thanks to technology, they streamed the speech live and linked to the audio as well as the coveritlive transcript.

Jeff Jarvis wrote a very stinging commentary prior to Schmidt’s talk. I couldn’t agree with him more.

Schmidt began his talking by saying,

I’m here because I want to talk about newspapers, information and the American Dream. Why is America so wonderful, why am I here, because of Freedom of Speech. Without Freedom of Speech, there can be no effective democracy. Without Freedom of Speech, there can be no, if you will, policing of the elites that dominate so many countries. America is a great idea precisely because it can change.

I started paraphrasing a bit for good measure.
Innovation and new inventions change the world and create jobs. The future will be technology driven. This will help to create the high paying jobs. As innovation and business success occurs and wealth is built in the background of Freedom of Speech.

He talked about the desparate need for transparency. If people had known about the pending economic crisis, they would have listened. Schmidt basically said that the media didn’t do a thorough job without saying it.

Redefinition of the newspaper of record, the one that records what is happening in your life, the local newspaper. It’s a national stage, a global stage, a business, stage. We have to reinvent what the paper means in this new environment.

Of course, I’ll have to make the time to listen to the rest of the speech. I just wanted to give you an incentive to do the same.

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