DMA member Jim Cameron has spent over 40 years in broadcast journalism. While at NBC News, he received a George Foster Peabody Award. In conjunction with INC. Magazine, he also wrote and hosted the syndicated radio series, Minding Your Business. For 12 years Jim ran JFORUM, the pioneering online service for journalists and communications professionals worldwide, on CompuServe.

In 1982 Jim transferred his journalism experience into a new career:  training people to deliver their messages effectively to the media and the public. His media-training clients have included hundreds of CEOs, scientists and authors. He has trained every kind of spokesperson imaginable—from athletes to marketing experts, from celebrities to farmers. His trainees have appeared on 60 Minutes, 20/20, The Today Show, CNN, CNBC and hundreds of radio stations. They’ve been quoted in the pages of The Wall Street Journal, trade journals and lifestyle magazines. Additionally, his clients have testified before Congress, made presentations to financial analysts and given speeches at major symposia. He has dealt with environmental crises, food tampering scares, insurance reform, employee healthcare, and workplace safety issues.

Jim taught broadcast journalism in Tunisia and the Philippines under the auspices of the U. S. State Department. Born and reared in Toronto, he speaks English and French. He graduated cum laude from Lehigh University with a BA in sociology in 1972.

A resident of Darien, Jim is founder of the Commuter Action Group, using social media to advocate for mass transit in Connecticut.  He is also an elected member of the Representative Town Meeting and program director of the town’s government access channel, Darien TV79.

Jim currently writes a weekly column, “Getting There,” for the eight daily and 14 weekly newspapers published by Hearst CT Media across Connecticut. In 2020 Jim published OFF THE RECORD: Confessions of a Media Consultant, sharing true stories about training the famous and the infamous.

Jim Cameron will be updating us on the future of transportation in Connecticut in the wake of the Covid-19 virus.

 

Arranged by Bryan Hooper

Bryan’s summary of his talk:

Jim Cameron, media consultant and DMA member, covered the transportation situation in Connecticut with a well-researched set of data and considerable enthusiasm for his subject. Jim took his audience back to the good old days when the New Canaan branch line sported its own private railcar for the select few on the commute to New York, but brought us down to earth and back to reality with statistics on the current ridership situation on MetroNorth, which was last counted as 218,000, compared with 3.1 million in March this year – a drop of 93%.

The MTA is projecting a deficit of $16 billion by 2024, and in 2020 alone the fare shortfall from reduced ridership will be approximately $4.2 billion. Currently, there seems to be no way out of the dire financial situation given the movement of commuters out to the suburbs, increased use of the roads, and a lack of urgency on the part of legislators to take action to remedy the situation either now or in the longer term. There is little appetite in an election year to raise gas taxes 60% back to 1997 levels, or to reinstate tolls in an effort to refund the State’s Special Transportation Fund; also, exacerbating the position, Federal spending on infrastructure is woefully low and unlikely to increase in the short-term. Overall, a sorry situation for which Jim sees no relief in sight.

Here is a link to a recording of his talk:  https://youtu.be/veanWAofvUY