We can do better!
Part of what I enjoy about UNPRESS is that I get to have thought-provoking discussions with the best in the industry. Irene Meijer quoted a…
Part of what I enjoy about UNPRESS is that I get to have thought-provoking discussions with the best in the industry. Irene Meijer quoted a book to me a few weeks ago. The Elements of Journalism, by Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel.
In the new open ecosystem of news and information, the role of professional journalists is smaller, and the role of citizens is larger. But not all voices are equal. […] money, organized strategies for dissemination, and carefully designed networks to magnify a message’s reach — have an advantage. […] It is important to recognize that this also includes institutions and actors journalists once called newsmakers — as well as state-run ministries of misinformation — all of whom want to influence the public for commercial and political purposes. […] if the press, in response, abandons for commercial or political reasons the principles of independent open-minded inquiry that the public requires, we will lose the press as an independent institution.”
In America, I believe that we are on the verge of losing the press as an independent institution, but we didn’t get here overnight. The mainstream media is subject to many commercial pressures: competition with social media, the results of an advertising-based business model, insurance, corporate culture, bureaucracy, and the challenges that come with 90% of media companies being owned by just six mega-corporations.
When Bill and Tom lay out the principles of journalism, it seems to me that mainstream journalism has, at least in part, strayed from these principles for commercial and political purposes.
Journalism’s first obligation is to the truth.
Its first loyalty is to citizens.
Its essence is a discipline of verification.
Its practitioners must maintain independence from those they cover.
It must serve as a monitor of power.
It must provide a forum for public criticism and compromise.
It must strive to make the significant interesting, and relevant.
It must present the news in a way that is comprehensive and proportional.
Its practitioners have an obligation to exercise their personal conscience.
Citizens have rights and responsibilities when it comes to the news as well — even more so as they become producers and editors themselves.
I put emphasis on #4, because after moving to the US from Canada, when I saw the NYT’s editorial board come out and endorse a political candidate, it blew my mind. Needless to say, they lost all respect and credibility with me immediately, not because of who they endorsed, but because they endorsed someone, period. It spoke to their ability, or inability, to be independent of the coverage of their subject. Then other organizations did the same. When we talk about verification and being a monitor of power, that is done, it seems, only to one's political opponents, while their team gets a pass. Regarding personal conscience, we’ve gone overboard on this one, with too much opinion and too little verification.
Some of the challenges with Mainstream media are of their own making as they struggle to survive in the internet era. Still, some are just the result of these companies being so old and so large that they have been unable to adapt to changes in technology, business models, and audience demographics. Often, the older a company, the more ossified its culture and hierarchy get. I have been deeply involved in digital transformation efforts in the technology consulting industry over the past ten years. Many transformation efforts fail, not because companies couldn’t implement the technology but because they thought it alone would save them. They could not change their cultures, business models, and mindsets to adjust to the new patterns of thinking and operating that the technology changes require. Ships this large cannot turn quickly, and some cannot turn at all.
We’ve watched the industry struggle with how to adapt for years. CNN+ is a good example. I was at SXSW and attended their session shortly before their launch. They were sure that people loved interview shows and that everyone would sign on and subscribe based on the strengths of their personalities. I sat in the audience shaking my head, but most of those around me, largely industry insiders and political partisans, nodded in agreement.
CNN+ operated for 23 days before shutting down because they failed to understand where their audience was and what they really wanted. I believe we can do better. I believe that the answer is not in trying to turn the ship. I believe that the only way to build a better future for news and information is to build a new ship where we can do things that they simply cannot. That doesn’t mean that we abandon these ships. We cannot. Many talented people work slavishly hard every day, trying to make a difference. We must help them by building a new journalism infrastructure from which we can all benefit.
But to do that, we need your help. Help us create something better by signing up to become one of the UNPRESS, Today.