JTM News

Re-Imagining Journalism, two years later

Today’s edition of The New News, a column in Steet Fight Magazine by Tom Grubisich, features an interview with JTM Board Member Mike Fancher.

In 2011, Fancher, the retired executive editor of The Seattle Times, partnered with the Knight Foundation and The Aspen Institute to publish Re-Imagining Journalism: Local News for a Networked World. Two years later, Grubisich caught up with Fancher to ask how things have changed.

The old paradigm of professional journalism was mostly limited to gathering, processing and distributing news. The essence of journalism for a networked world is experimentation, collaboration and public engagement. It involves:

•    Public, private and non-profit media networking together.
•    Established and emerging news organizations cooperating and co-creating content.
•    Journalism being done outside traditional places, including within civic organizations and institutions such as libraries and universities.
•    Partnerships between journalists and the people they are meant to serve.

I don’t see those actions happening nearly as fast as they need to.

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The old mission paradigm of journalism was giving people the information they need. I think the new mission paradigm is about helping them have, use and act on the information that will enhance their personal and civic lives.

I’m on the board of Journalism That Matters, and we call this journalism of, by and for the people. “For” is still necessary and vital, but journalists can do a lot to support the “of” and “by,” as well. My own drive is, “If someone wants to create or contribute journalism, how can I help?”

Read the full interview at StreetFightMag.com