Eric NEWTON, vice president, Journalism, John S. and James L. Knight Foundation:  The Knight Foundation "has tried to position itself to deal with the future of news and information as it comes.... We used to be very much in a traditional mode of endowing chairs in journalism in universities and building up traditional institutions.  We've moved to the other end of the spectrum and are now very active in digital media projects – concerned with how everything that happens in the world is covered and how everyone has access to everything.  Everyone everywhere can be a news publisher – or at least an information publisher."

Stephen KING, director, Investments, Omidyar Network:  Omidyar is "broadly technology-based" in its investments, but while "technology is very important to us, traditional media is as well."  We are seeing "a wider opportunity to invest in journalism and content creation – how people get the news and access information.  We're also supporting enabling environments for both digital and traditional sources... and considering how that fits in with our interest in government and transparency."

Sasa VUCINIC, principal, Media Development Loan Fund:  "In the phase of media development in which we work – the very early stages – traditional kinds of investors won't work.... If you're only interested in financial returns, you won't invest in media because the returns in media development are not just financial, they are returns in the social good.... So for [MDLF] we always strive for that balance between financial and social investment.  And 'patient capital' is one of the critical elements in our strategy."

Stewart CHISHOLM, senior program manager, Open Society Foundation:  "We emphasize capacity building and cross-border collaboration, but much of our work in media development is related to press freedom....  A new concern of ours is that there's very little protection to bloggers and new media. About 40 percent of journalists in jail around the world, for example, are new media activists."