Video Transcript:

JOANNE FARYON (Host): The new president and CEO of NPR was in San Diego this week. Vivian Schiller talked about her view on the media and journalism in an interview on These Days. Here's some of what she had to say.

VIVIAN SCHILLER (NPR President/CEO): I think we will look back at 2009 and say we were seeing history in the making and this is the year that everything changed. It's really astounding, the pace of change. Newspapers are shrinking or going under, local television news which use to be the profit center for local broadcast stations is now  a drag on the bottom line. Cable news is going more partisan. It's very very troubling and you know a sound democracy relies on having many robust sources of news. I mean it is the fourth estate that keeps public institutions and public figures to account. It scares me.

FARYON: I want to dissect that very weighty quote. First Tom, newspapers are shrinking or going under. The Union-Tribune laid off 200 people just a month ago. Who's going to pick up the slack? Who's going to do the investigative reporting?

TOM YORK (Editor, San Diego Business Journal): I think newspapers are 
going to not to go away. I'm an optimist in this regard. I think that once the current economic turmoil settles down we'll still have newspapers. There won't be as many, they won't be as big, but they'll still play a role in our society, in our democracy. And it's just a matter of waiting to see how it all plays out.

FARYON: But what role? We already know that in newsrooms people don't have enough time, they don't have enough time to do the research, to do the digging. So if you have fewer reoprters, you have less time to do that. So maybe they're left, but what are they left doing?

YORK: Well, I think that newspaper, editorial staff will pick their targets more carefully in terms of their investigative reporting, in terms of what they're covering, they'll be more choosy and I think in that regard that's probably going to be a good thing. There's probably going to be less waste. There's going to be more focus.

FARYON: JW, the other thing in the quote, locla television news is a drag on the bottom line. Is that true at channel 10?

J.W. AUGUST (Managin Editor, 10 News): It's true across our entire market. We have six news stations in the community plus PBS doing local news. There's too many pieces of the pie that have been cut up into tiny pieces and with the internet that's what's driving all this change and this concern.

FARYON: Is it just the market place? Maybe the public doesn't want all this local news or do they?

AUGUST: The public I think is going to decide. It is a scary time for us working in the business. And I'm concerned about the health of the fourth estate. I hope it continues. We have to have a strong fourth estate with a democracy.

FARYON: Is it something, do you think Tom the public actually recognizes teh media, journalists as being that fourth estate? As somebody who's keeping democracy, keeping our officials in check or is it just us talking about our jobs?

YORK: That's a good question because I think if you look at surveys of the least honored professions journalists rank right up there at the top near trial attorneys. But on the other hand, I think you have to look at journalists provide, perform a very vital function. Look at what's happening in Iran with the new technologies in place like twitter and the internet. The news is getting out. The journalists are able to process it, to look at it, and to provide a picture of what's happening five or six thousand miles away that we would not otherwise have. 

FARYON: Thank you Tom York, J.W. August.