The following sessions on Thursday will be live-blogged:

9 to 9:30 a.m., Keynote Speaker Monica Davey, New York Times Midwest Bureau Chief

9:45 to 10:45 a.m., Global Chicago

11 to Noon, Cause Marketing

1 to 1:45 p.m., Keynote Speaker Colonel Tribune, Chicago Tribune

2 to 3 p.m., Funding Communications in an Age of Austerity

3:15 to 5 p.m., Social Media, News & Us

We’d also like to thank all our live bloggers for helping us put the Conference online.

“Even though bloggers and citizen journalists can piss me off, I certainly see their value,” Hayner said. “Of course we have to embrace the many ‘platform’ changes we’ve seen. But a lot of those changes are about delivery of news, not the finding of it.”

The former metro editor said the best way to gather news was still to assign full time reporters to the primary listening posts such as local government (He praised Sun Times city hall reporter Fran Spielman, who received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the event). Journalists cultivate sources daily and work with experienced editors coordinating the information, Hayner said.

“Think of it, platoons of reporters all marching to the tune of news,” Hayner said. “This, of course, is the newspaper model. And in varying ways it’s the TV and radio model. And you know what? IT’S MAGNIFICENT.”

Hear more from Don at CMW’s Making Media Connections conference this June.

report by Workshop intern Christopher Brinckerhoff from Hayner’s comments