Inside Toronto event, 'Journalism is Dead, Long Live Journalism' Special

There has been talk that journalism is dying as we get into the 21st century. On Sept. 15 the Canadian Journalism Foundation explored the thoughts of editor Rem Rieder and writer Ira Basen on the subject at the University of Toronto.

Journalism and journalists have a heavy load. To report the news of the day and to investigate issues that are important to their communities and the world in general. With the recent economic crisis, the standard vessel of journalism -- the newspaper -- has taken a heavy hit. In some sense, that hit began years ago by allowing news content to appear on the Internet for free. Information is free. Yet who pays the price for that information to be delivered? It costs money to support a professional journalistic staff. Have we entered into an era where the professional journalist is unable to support themselves? Have we as a population lost a piece of democracy because of this? UBC Graduate School of Journalism professor and a member of the executive committee for CJF, Beth Haddon, opened the discussion between Ira Basen and Rem Rieder Tuesday evening for a full house.

KJ Mullins

Beth Haddon, Adjunct Professor, UBC Graduate School of Journalism.

image:57057:5::0

Ira Basen has been exploring the the new trend of citizen journalism on CBC Radio One, and in a recent article in the magazine Maisonneuve. He teaches journalism at Ryerson University and the DeGroote School of Business at McMaster University. In his recent article titled Citizen Uprising, he explored various forms of today's journalism including examples of the Internet's move to citizen journalism and sites that use this form of journalism. Rem Rieder is the editor of American Journalism Review, where he also writes columns on media issues. He has been a senior editor at several newspapers including the Washington Post and Miami Herald. The Harvard graduate has also educated up and coming journalists at the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland. Basen opened the program with the comments that the advertising model of journalism is on its last legs, giving quotes from both American journalist David Simon and Arianna Huffington, owner of the Huffington Post. "In short, the parasite is killing the host," Simon said, referring to the latest trends with the newspaper business, while Huffington believes "We are in the golden age of news consumers. The future of journalism is not dependent on newspapers." Essentially, both are correct. We are in a new age where anyone, anywhere in the world can obtain free news. We are also watching the death of many newspapers in front of our very eyes. For the consumer of news, the Internet has opened up a menu of information. What worries Reider, however, is who will pay the price for free information. Who will pay for the journalists that are needed to go and uncover the big stories? As newspapers thin out their staff to attempt to keep their 20 to 40 per cent profit margin, journalists are facing an uneasy future. There had been hope that online advertising would save the day, but that hope has proved to be a pipe dream. As Basen said, "If newspapers die, so does reporting." We can look at the Huffington Post as an example: The company has a staff of 60 and has $37 million in venture capital pumped into it, according to Crunch Base. Of those 60 staffers, only seven are professional journalists. The bulk of their coverage comes from unpaid bloggers. Many of the larger newspapers have blamed the Internet for their failings, while others note the current economic crisis has plagued the newspaper industry, saying newspapers borrowed from Peter to pay Paul. The one area of print newspapers that has not faced the economic crisis is the small town newspaper. These smaller papers have a solid advertising base that keeps them running. Some of these smaller papers are also funded by foundations. This could be the true future of the print paper. When it works well, the coverage is as thorough as it always was. The downside to foundation-funded organizations is the possibility of bias. This, of course, can also come in to play with the advertising model. So which method is better for the future of journalism? Which method is the most ethical approach? According to the discussion at this forum, many believe foundation-supported newspapers may be the next model to emerge. That said, advertising models have not died. In recent weeks, there are some signs bigger papers are digging themselves out of their holes.

KJ Mullins

The debate: Journalism Is Dead; Long Live Journalism.

image:57058:5::0

Citizen journalism has increasingly come into play as the newspaper industry struggles with the new era of journalism. Citizens are covering the news, most often free of charge and posting it on the Internet. While there are some excellent citizen journalists in the field, there are also some who have limits that bring in questions of credibility. Without an editor asking hard questions of how, why and what information has not been confirmed, a lot of opinion can be passed off as fact. In reality, print newspapers could die out but that doesn't mean newspaper-style reporting will. News sources have to maintain a large enough staff to report their 'beat' and have investigative trained reporters covering the special issues. But the question remains, who will pay for the price of this specialized journalism? Newspapers quickly found when they went online that there was not enough revenue in advertising to be sustainable. The public has had its cake and eaten it too when it comes to obtaining information. It's free, and many are not willing to pay the price online in the future to get news content. Paid content has an uphill battle. Google is one company that understands the need for paid content and has started testing a program where it shares ad revenue with news publishers. Today's professional journalist has to be more flexible than yesterday's. The modern journalist has to be able to take the picture as they cover the story. Journalists of today have to be able to adapt their investigations for an Internet audience as well as a print readership. The next era of journalism may be looked back on as a golden era of a more vibrant, creative time. A time when journalists become entrepreneurs. They have to work along side the citizen journalist who may not have the same skills and education. But together with the professional journalist, citizens can fill in gaps and collect usable and needed information. During the question and answer portion of the event, I was able to ask Basen and Reider if they thought paying citizen journalists would make a difference. Basen, who has explored this new wave of journalism, said that paying is an important solution in the field. He mentioned that DigitalJournal.com was a good model of what citizen journalism could be. With a true editorial staff that educates its writers, he said DigitalJournal.com is creating a worldwide pool of freelance journalists. Another question that was asked focused on the credibility factor that has come into play with content on the Internet. The world of citizen media took a hit when CNN's iReport circulated a story saying then Apple CEO Steve Jobs had a heart attack. The story was false. On the positive side of the coin, its legitimacy was questioned immediately by a large readership and quickly corrected by crowd editing.

KJ Mullins

Newspaper boxes begging for attention.

image:57059:6::0

On the negative side, however, an article that was false appeared on a highly trafficked site. The article not only affected the stock market for a period of time, but the credibility of information that can be gleamed from the Web. Had this story been published by a print reporter, he or she would have been out of a job. Summing the night up, Basen said, "People don't want to be lectured to. They don't want to be told what to think, what to do. We are now having to have conversations with the audience. That part of the equation, lecturing, is gone." Today's journalist has to be able to tell their story in both the print and online format. Today's newspapers have to adapt to less revenue and still pay their professionals for the best coverage of issues that face the world. Journalism is not dead, but if new models of being sustainable are not worked out, it could be in serious jeopardy. If that were to happen, the entire population will lose. Journalism is a key element of democracy. Without the voice of the journalist, there is nobody asking the hard questions that keep the world in balance.