Sometimes I think if I have to attend one more conference or panel on the future of journalism, I’ll throw up.

But I went to another one last night – and boy, I’m glad I did.

It was called, rather grandiosely, “Journalism Values and Vision: Leading in the Age of Digital Disruption.” Held at Town Hall, its sponsors were the University of Oregon’s School of Journalism and Communication and the U of O Alumni Association.

I’m not an Oregon alum, but I was born in Eugene and my mother was a Duck, so they let me in (only $10 bucks for non-Ducks).

Panelists were Tim Gleason, dean of the J-School; Mike Fancher, former Seattle Times executive editor; Peter Rinearson, former Seattle Times reporter, Microsoftie, and digital entrepreneur; Heidi de Laubenfels, Seattle Times deputy managing editor for product development; and Lara Yamada, Q13 Fox News reporter.

But I mainly went because the moderator was Scott Bedbury, CEO of Brandstream. He’s a U of O J-School grad who went on to work at Nike where he ran the “Just Do It” campaign, then joined Starbucks as marketing director when the company went global.

I’d heard Scott speak to Seattle Rotary the day before. He got a standing ovation for his savvy, funny and edgy views on “branding” and earning trust in today’s crazy corporate/government/media worlds.

“There’s been a collapse of trust. We don’t trust any big institutions anymore,” Scott had said. As for trust in the media, he said: “There needs to be a place on the Web for discussion of news accuracy and ethics. If trust in news goes away, democracy is in trouble.”

I wanted to hear more from this guy, since that’s part of the mission of the Washington News Council – and we’re trying to do more of it online.

At Town Hall, Bedbury expanded on the theme: “The credibility and trustworthiness of journalism today is at an all-time low,” he said. “What do we do in a situation where the public is looking disbelievingly at the [news] industry?”

The panelists offered some ideas and suggestions, but not a lot of really clear, specific, feasible solutions. All agreed it’s a tumultuous time.

Mike Fancher, who since he retired has been doing various projects for the Knight Foundation, Aspen Institute, American Society of News Editors, Reynolds Journalism Institute, and Journalism That Matters, explained his concept of “Public Trust Through Public Engagement” – i.e., involving citizens more actively in helping shape the new news ecosystem by working together with journalists and maybe even practicing “citizen journalism.”

Then Mike did something I wasn’t expecting: He said, “John Hamer of the Washington News Council is here tonight, and he’s been promoting what he calls the ‘TAO of Journalism – Transparency, Accountability and Openness,’ to help increase public trust.”

Whereupon Scott Bedbury jumped in and said: “I met John yesterday at Rotary, and I can’t get the ‘TAO of Journalism’ idea out of my head. Brilliant work!”

Honest, I didn’t ask either of these guys to do that. Really, I didn’t.

But it wasn’t too shabby to have a nationally respected editor and perhaps the nation’s top “branding” expert plug your idea in public.

During Q&A, I thanked them both and asked if they though that all journalists – mainstreamers, bloggers, or whoever – needed to be more TAO as a way to earn trust. They agreed.

Then I asked Scott, former Nike guy, if we could use “Just TAO It” on T-shirts and bumperstickers. He said fine, no problem. Just TAO It.

So we will. Watch www.taoofjournalism.org for details, coming soon