Panelists raised issues such as reporter and source credibility on the internet, how accessibility will affect the news, and how digitizing the newsroom will affect the industry. All agreed that digitalized or not, all forms of news media must maintain clear writing and integrity. Former newspaper editor Frank McCulloch, who never used the Internet inspired the idea for the panel when he saw an early announcement for the conference and wrote his objections to Northern California chapter president Bruce Brugmann. Early in the panel, McCulloch said reporting via the internet wouldn't improve journalism. Newspapers are essentially run by human beings.
Newspapers are full of fallible imperfections which reflects what human beings do.
Menn, Rheingold and McCulloch used coverage of the Persian Gulf War as an example of how digital reporting made journalists lazy. All three said while reporters relied on the military and CNN for late breaking news, reporters ignored other information like death rates or the identity of the people fighting on the front lines. Rheingold pointed out how the internet offers an immediacy to news events other forms can't copy. On special occasions like the Gulf War, Tienanmen Square, and the Kobe earthquake eyewitnesses were able to report what was going on. On the WELL a user with a daughter who was a reporter in Russia was able to report about the take over of the White House there because she could see it out of her window.