How do we create Journalism that spurs public action?

Posted on June 4, 2010 by Peggy Holman

Submitted by boothism on Fri, 06/04/2010 – 1:20pm

Session Convenor:
Kwan Booth

Discussion Participants:
Kwan Booth

  • Does journalism as it is now inspire action?
    • Should it
  • What kinds of journalism inspires action?
  • What kinds of actions can be expected?
  • How do we inspire readers to become activists
  • What types of content does this?
    • Passive nature of news
    • Take action boxes
  • Do different types of content inspire action more?
    • Story, then video, then SMS action messages
    • Ethical issues involved
  • Examples:
    • MAGnet/Neutrality/Digital Divide
      • Campaign working to enlist media into policy shaping initiatives
      • Mix between journalists, advocates, activists and media makers.
  • Where does the public dialog happen?
  • How much do journalists stay “on the street” and keep the ear of the people?
  • Kat: There’s an implicit idea that if people receive the info people will act, but that’s not necessarily the case.
  • Are we talking about individual journalists or structural changes? Should we address one or the other?
  • Make the reporting more concrete and tie in details that resonate with individual communities
    • Focus on Bread and butter issues
  • Funders have been focused on funding direct services around community interactions.
  • We need to address the fears that journalists have around working with advocates.
  • Think about the extent to which an individual personality (ex: Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin) can push an agenda and change the public understanding of issues.
  • One problem is that the right breaks issues into sound bites while the left addresses the nuances of the issue.
    • But the nuances don’t really inspire action. Emotion inspires action.
  • Where does the public discourse happen and how do you place the information there?
  • Are we covering the news from the perspective of the groups who would be effected?
  • We should work to Integrate the community into the reporting process and get them more involved.
  • There needs to be a way to measure and track public interaction spurred by action.
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About Peggy Holman

Peggy Holman supports organizations and communities to uncover creative responses to complex challenges using innovative engagement processes. The Change Handbook, co-authored with Tom Devane and Steven Cady, documents many such processes. The book is the considered the definitive resource for leaders and consultants working to increase resilience, agility, and collaboration in organizations and other social systems. Peggy co-founded Journalism that Matters in 2001 with three journalists to support the pioneers who are shaping the emerging news and information ecology. Peggy’s latest book, Engaging Emergence: Turning Upheaval into Opportunity, supports people facing disruptions to invite others to join them in realizing new possibilities.
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