Space Media Panel
Dave Brody, Space.com
Mark Mayfield, Ad Astra Magazine
Keith Cowing, NASA Watch
Warren Leary, New York Times
Glenn Reynolds, Univ. of Tennessee, Instapundit
Jeff Foust, Futron Corporation, (spacetoday.net, spacepolitics.com, etc.) Moderator

[Warning: These are just fragments of what the panelists said. Also, they were fast talkers and I may have misinterpreted some of what they said. Perhaps a video of this interesting session will make it to the web.]

Foust - What is the significance of the big increase in space news and issues coverage?
Leary: Big increase in quantity but generally quality is low.
Reynolds: Most mainstream coverage space is very thin and shallow. E.g. an issue like the possibility that the FAA was going to pull Mojave spaceport's license got a lot of blog coverage. That's something that would never get much coverage in regular media
- MSM can monitor the blogs for whats happening and jump on stories of broader appeal.
Brody: Before the Internet it was much more difficult to find innovative activities happening below the radar of the media.
Cowing: I was blogging before it was called that.
Like being 10 years after the invention of printing press. Lot of stuff of little or no interest. Sites that are consistently wrong are soon not read by anyone.
Mayfield: Early efforts to get insider info on NASA shuttle crews. Using NASA Watch he heard about Dog Crews and that led him into a very interesting insight into world of the Shuttle corps.
Interactive aspect can mean opinion can be quickly repeated and treated as fact down the line.

Foust - During the Phoenix landing, he noticed that a Congressman was posting video of a view of the control room via his cell phone.
Mayfield: Good example of democratization of news gathering via sophisticated new technology. Lack of editing and examination means users must be more critical and skeptical of what they are seeing.
Cowing: When he started this in 1995, NASA challenged him strongly about insider reported.
Gradually became aware of the impact what he said could have. Made him more careful about what he posts and he also quickly corrects mistakes.
Just begun to see the change. WiFi will eventually be totally ubiquitous.
Brody: Agree that we are still very early in this new era and "haven't seen anything yet"
Reynolds: Can see a self-organizing effect as bloggers gather around a topic.
Leary: Jump 10 years ahead. What are the potential dangers when there are so many people shouting out, will there be anyone listening?
Maybe mid-course corrections needed?

Foust - Organizations like NSS and their magazines like Ad Astra and conferences like ISDC were once where one went to get info on space, especially space topics not covered elsewhere. How does the Internet effect such organizations and the services they provide?
Reynolds: Real issue, especially with magazines being so expensive to publish. Activist organizations can offer activism rather than information.
Brody: To get the attention of young people is very difficult. In competition with computer games, DVDs, etc. Need organized effort to reach them
Reynolds: Magazines are good for the longer articles and for more in-depth examination of things.
Cowing: The magazines don't serve the purpose they once did. Need to find a new role.
Mayfield: Very difficult to raise money to start a new magazine.
Organizations like the NSS are about building and organizing a community around common interests
Leary: A fan of The Space Review since he can get in depth information about the topics.
In old days when he got NSS's Space World magazine he liked the feeling that it was drawing him into a community of shared interests.
Don't need just to reach young people - what about the huge baby boom generation, many of whom are not deeply involved in the web.

Audience question: How to get message out to the public?
Cowing: Be passionately about what you are interested in. Provide useful info as well.
Reynolds: Reach out to general interest publications. E.g. he currently has an article in Popular Mechanics about lunar property rights.
Brody: Very difficult to reach kids. Science teachers seldom teach about space.
Cowing: Experience as member of board of Challenger Centers. We must learn how to bring space to people outside of the choir.
Leary: Learn how to communicate what is going on at a level or in a way that gives it meaning to the general public. E.g. seeing a single microbe on Mars in a microscope image could have profound effects on society, religion, etc.

Audience: How to reach media leaders?
Cowing: People are especially interested in knowing "when will we go". NASA is terrified of talking about such things.
Brody: Commercial operators will do marketing that NASA can't do, e.g. putting celebrities on flights.
Mayfield: Space activist need to convince the media leaders that space is important.

[Update: Did a bit of editing to clarify some items and correct the worst of sentence fragments and bad grammar.]