This document was originally created May 4, 2008 by Journalism That Matters team members.
PRINTABLE VERSION OF THIS PAGE
The future of journalism centers around the power of storytelling to create healthy communities. Specifically:
- Cultivating “healthy journalists”, renewing the inner life of the journalist;
- Preparing the next generation, with an eye towards the emerging citizen journalist; and
- Inventing a new economic model. As one participant put it, “Rather than further compromise the work, it’s time to separate journalism from its current funding sources and find a new model.”
Some of its seeds include:
- Journalism as a conversation – a groundbreaking shift from journalism as a lecture;
- Shaping a new “master narrative”— Recovering the mythic story of journalists as conveners and navigators through a changing world prepares them to support communities in shaping a new national “master narrative” for our times.
- High tech/high touch journalism – Whether on the web or in the café, new storytelling forms are emerging that engage us on cell phones and iPods, and in gathering places with food, music and the arts; and
- Ready, Fire, Aim – A strategy of “just do it,” moving from idea (ready) to implementation (fire) without months of planning (aim).
By metaphorically removing the newsroom walls and taking the journalist out of the cube, the qualities of the new news ecology emerge.
| CURRENT NEWSROOM | NEW NEWS ECOLOGY |
| Journalism as… | |
| Lecture | conversation |
| low tolerance for experimentation (like peanut butter in the fridge; it doesn’t move) | community of innovation |
| central authority | community connector |
| knowledge-centric | relationship-centric |
| one-to-many | many-to-many |
| profit-driven | mission-driven |
| Accurate, verified and fair | Transparent, accurate, verified and fair |
| Journalist as… | |
| outsider | community member |
| lone wolf | collaborative partner |
| gatekeeper | sense-maker |
| focused on the external world | focused on their inner life and the external world |
| expert, arbiter of truth | coordinator, facilitator, convener, evaluator, refiner |
| Journalist as… | |
| professional, dispassionate | professional and citizen, passion in the mix |
| content creator | content creator and guide |
| Content that… | |
| arouses | inspires engagement |
| publisher owns and creates | public owns and creates |
| answers who, what when, where, why and how | contextualizes purpose – why the audience should care – and answers who, what when, where, why and how |
| pours around the ads | serves a greater good |
| follows the inverted pyramid | edited for readability, not style |
| Stories sourced… | |
| from within the news organization | from many people and places |
| are deadline driven | are continually unfolding |
| Dissemination of stories… | |
| media specific | multi-purpose (e.g., print, broadcast, web, podcast, cell phone, etc.) |
| Economics… | |
| ad supported | multiple sources of support |
| high cost of production and distribution | low-cost distribution |
| most of the cost is not journalism | costs mostly journalism related |
| Education … | |
| for journalists | for: * journalists * the public * “citizen journalists” |
| in journalism’s values and tools | in: * media literacy for everyone * journalism’s values and tools * the art of engagement |