Earlier this summer, I attended the Association of Educators in Journalism and Mass Communications (AEJMC) conference in Boston. It was interesting to see how the challenges facing news organizations nationwide are filtering down to those who are trying to prepare the next generation of journalists.

The attendees asked questions that were slightly different from those asked in other journalism conversations; instead of “What’s the future of News?” I mostly heard people ask, “How do we prepare students for an unknown future?” But the questions not being asked remained the same.

While I saw distinct interest in new models – especially nonprofit models for journalism – there was little discussion of the policies we need to ensure a level playing field for these new models. When questions of public policy did arise – like David Westphal’s excellent session on his research into journalism and public policy – they tended to be treated as academic exercises rather than points for action.

In general, there have been three kinds of responses to the calls for President Obama to endorse a commission to on the future of journalism and public media in America:

1. “Keep the government out of my journalism.”
2. “What good will a commission do?”
3. “Thank goodness, it’s about time!”

Howard Kurtz of the Washington Post exemplified the second and third responses in his article earlier this week, essentially arguing, “We don't need no stinkin' presidential commission.” My colleague Josh Silver has already outlined a few of the flaws in Kurtz’s article, but I want to step back and explore these responses to the commission idea in more depth.

There’s a bill moving through Congress right now that could open up the airwaves to thousands of new community journalists and reporting projects. The Local Community Radio Act will unleash a new wave of low power FM radio stations run by local organizations and nonprofits.

We created SaveTheNews.org to argue for the importance of public policy in discussions about the future of journalism. Last week, however, policy took center stage with three articles examining our government’s possible role in fostering a robust and diverse free press in America. The articles came from an array of sources – a scholar, a journalist and a pair of advocates – and appeared in newspapers across the country, from Washington, D.C., to Seattle.