Last Friday, I went to a discussion on media and diplomacy
led by the (soon to be resigning) Executive Editor of the Washington Post (WP),
Marcus Brauchli. He talked about his past experience as a foreign correspondent
and how journalism has changed in recent years. It’s no surprise that
journalists and large news companies are producing content tailored to digital
platforms. He discussed topics I’ve already covered in my previous posts, such as
the interplay between user-generated content (USG)and journalism.
(post on prosumers: http://intercomsis.blogspot.com/2012/10/prosumer-as-second-nature.html
and
post on social media in journalism: http://intercomsis.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-expading-role-of-social-media.html
)
Still, he did consider a few of the themes we’ve explored lately in
our class.
The “CNN effect” thesis questions whether or not the media
is driving foreign policy. The literature we’ve read didn’t find conclusive
evidence to support that media greatly affects foreign policy. Brauchli offered
the perspective of a journalist concerning this idea. When discussing the
transformation of journalism, he stated that newspapers today have to keep up
with the pace of news 24hrs, just as other media sources do. It’s important to
remain current with new information that people provide (such USG) in order to
remain competitive within the journalism industry. So, in regards to the “CNN
effect”, he says that WP journalists aren’t conscious of changing policy, not
intentionally at least. Their main concern is what readers want and ought to
know. Yet, they are conscious of policy when they think something has been
misunderstood/misinterpreted by politicians, and they make sure to hold
politicians accountable. A journalist’s main goal is to take the public’s interests
into account, though they are certainly proud if their stories affect policy in
some way.
In terms of the “paradox of plenty” (this states that there
is an abundance of information but we have limited attention, so what do we
focus on?), their job as journalists is to help people sift thought the vast
amount of information floating around, and help them identify the good, valid
information engulfed in the bad, unreliable information. People turn to WP, and
news organizations in general, because they help people prioritize information
and determine what to focus their attention on.
Do people seek to re-affirm what they know? In the Shawn
Powers and Mohammed el-Naraway article, “Al-Jazeera English and global news
networks: clash of civilizations or cross-cultural dialogue?”, they “found
compelling evidence that viewers choose global news media based on their
pre-existing ideological and political orientations, and that their viewing of
particular news media is likely to reinforce their opinions on highly divisive
issues…”
Brauchli supports this claim as well. He states that, in the past, people consumed
news horizontally, as in they would read about different categories stories
covering a broad range of ideas in the paper. However, today people consume
news vertically; they seek out niche or boutique news, which is news tailored
to a specific topic or viewpoint.
Brauchli commented that social media in journalism creates a
vibrant exchange of information that fosters discussion. The overarching goal
of WP is to create an umbrella, or platform, where people can discuss the news with
one another while journalists mediate the information. The direction journalism
is moving to is much more participatory. Brauchli acknowledged that WP gets
“attacked” more than before, but this implies that people are responding
critically to the information presented to them. They have an outlet to
respond, fostering the two-way communication that is necessary for greater understanding.
Thanks for writing about this event, Kristie! You explained many of the points I took away from Mr. Brauchli's talk as well.
ReplyDeleteTo expand on your point about the news' switch to a digital platform, I found his stories worth sharing here. Brauchli stated how back in the day, reporters abroad would go abroad, all expenses paid, to grab a story. If they were late or unable to find a reputable source, they would speak with taxi drivers in the region and craft a story out of their responses - taxi-cab journalism. Now, however, the quality of information has increased, providing more details. Now the WP has to stay open 24hrs, a social media team monnitoring every outlet to know news stories first & constantly adapting their presence to new platforms and tablets.
In class, we've discussed how there used to be more foreign correspondents abroad than there is now. However, Brauchli stated that this is a myth; he said that although the number of offices have decreased from around 12 to 5, the number of foreign correspondents have increased from 75 to around 2,000 for publications such as Dow Jones and Bloomberg.
Finally, he was also asked about the future of journalism. In his opinion, he thinks journalism will never die, but one can worry about institutions. Since boutique news interest has increased substantially and readers have become more participatory, the exchange of info. fostering discussion that you stated above will be the future of journalism.
Despite the fact that he was speaking in a room full of foreign policy practitioners, I was a bit reassured after his talk that the WP works with the main goal of satisfying the public interest, not promoting a certain political agenda item. Also, his comment on how the WP seeks to tell the truth, knowing how hard it is for people to find it through all the "sludge" online, was inspiring as well.
Kristie, thanks for reporting back on what sounds like it was a very interesting talk! I'm glad to hear Brauchli discuss ways that the Washington Post has made an effort to embrace social media and newer technologies to facilitate a dialogue, but a recent post from Ezra Klein has me concerned about their ability to stay afloat in this economic environment while contending with the changing face of journalism. Yesterday's 'Graphs of the Day'[1] show that Google is surpassing U.S. newspapers in ad revenue. I wonder if the Washington Post's new, participatory approach to news will be enough to make it competitive from a financial standpoint.
ReplyDelete[1]http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2012/12/03/graphs-of-the-day-two-terrifying-charts-for-newspapers/