I’m often asked about whether I have hope for the future of journalism. So when my friend, Gordon Govier, asked me to speak at a luncheon for the Society of Professional Journalists Mark of Excellence awards, it seemed like a good forum to talk about where I see things heading.

“What’s on the other side: A call to action for the next generation of journalists” was delivered March 27 at the Midwest Journalism Conference in Bloomington, Minn.  What follows is an 1,100-word excerpt. (For a link to an audio file with the full 19-minute address, see Gordon Govier’s SPJ Region 6 blog.)

In it, I talk about the good and bad of what my generation of journalists has accomplished, lay out a vision for the forseeable future — and challenge today’s students to take up the cause that is vital to democracy and to the communities we serve.

When you consider the times in which my generation came of age, you can see the roots of today’s changes. We grew up in the ‘60s and ‘70s – a time of amazing social and technological change. Divorce and single parents became more common. The equality of women was taken more seriously. Racial issues were boiling. Cynicism grew in the era of the Vietnam War and Watergate. We grew up in the midst of a race to the moon, in the era of “Star Trek” and a time when color TVs, microwave ovens and other electronic devices became more common. Most of us were young professionals when we bought our first personal computers – and were already mid-career by the time we owned our first cell phone.

 Our generation ushered in a modern era of investigative reporting, based in the source work of Woodward and Bernstein, but expanded through the use of databases, mapping and other computer analysis that would have been unthinkable to the previous generation of journalists…. 

I would venture to say no generation of journalists has done more to raise the standards of the craft – fairness, accuracy and credibility are the banners we wave. And yet – perhaps no generation has engendered more distrust or disgust from the citizens we aim to serve.

This may be our biggest failure.

  Where we see fairness, many see bias … many readers believe that our editorial opinions and our own personal biases carry over into coverage. And if we are honest with ourselves, we know they are right – if nothing else it shows up in the stories we choose to cover and those we choose to ignore. …  

Where we see the importance of getting the facts right, many see we are failing to get the right facts. Accuracy is not just about spelling the names correctly, it’s about talking to the right people, about providing context and perspective so the picture is more complete and the coverage “rings true” to readers.

Where we hold ourselves out as the most credible sources of news, many see an aloof institution that often refuses to own up to its mistakes. Our newsrooms rarely reflect the diversity of the communities we serve. Our leadership is primarily still a club for white males. Too few journalists are willing to engage readers – still thinking of them in disdainful terms as uneducated or uninformed. …

These are challenges we must confront if we are to survive – if we are to get to the other side. …

 You can expect to find jobs, but not easily. …  You will need to know more about the business than previous generations – you’ll need to care deeply about the audience you are trying to serve and you’ll need to understand them. You may need to be much more entrepreneurial, perhaps starting your own web site or publication. Or consider the lifestyle of owning your own small newspaper, becoming part of the fabric of a community. It’s a good life. 

People ask whether print newspapers will survive. I believe that they will for the foreseeable future. The smaller the community, the more likely it will support a print newspaper. …

Obviously, people will be increasingly reliant on digital and mobile sources to get their “news” – getting news by the day, hour and minute, depending on its urgency and relevancy. You want to know now about a highway accident up ahead and the new technology will be able to deliver that. Your cell phone knows where you are right now and can tell others – so it’s only a matter of time before the applications let you get geo-local news that varies depending on where (and when) you are.

You already know that to succeed in this new environment you will need strong digital skills. Immediacy will be highly valued – and many reports will be short and sweet – like a tweet on Twitter.

 Some stories will grow and change throughout the day – as users interact and offer ideas or ask questions, and as more information becomes available. 

Many if not most of your stories will be more than text – you’ll be marrying them with video and audio that you’ll often do yourself, rather than relying on someone else to produce them. Reports will include maps, satellite images and graphics and tie-in to searchable databases. The best stories will be full of links – to original source materials, to related stories (by your news organization or by competitors). And instead of being a one-day phenomenon, some stories may evolve and change over time, being constantly updated by yourself and other collaborators – almost like a Wikipedia version – so that it rises to the top of search engine results and stays there as the definitive piece on the topic.

 Meanwhile, the print product will change. Increasingly, it will be the source for context –  more of a newsmagazine and knowledge resource for the community. … The paper also will be a source of entertainment and surprise – a relaxing, enjoyable experience – something you can take with you to help you with your day as a community member and consumer. 

Regardless of format, tomorrow’s journalists will need to be devoted to:

n      Quality journalism.

n      Free expression.

n      Community service.

 Print and digital products will need to connect readers to each other, to their communities and to their world. We must give them the information they need to engage as citizens of a democracy and as people curious about the world around them. A government “of the people, by the people, for the people” cannot function without credible information. 

Simply put: We must help people live better lives. …

 At its most basic, the fundamentals of good journalism remain unchanged.

We must find out things, some of which people would like to keep secret.

We must verify information we’ve learned – and understand the motives some might have for giving us information.

We must tell the truth – and that requires independence.

We must tell interesting stories in many different ways to satisfy the different needs of our audience.

We must engage with the community – to understand them and focus on the issues that matter to them. We need to foster a “culture of participation” as one of journalism’s deep thinkers, Jay Rosen, puts it.

 Non-journalists can do these things, but you stand to be uniquely capable of putting it all together in a way that people will trust and respect – and welcome into their lives. 

You can certainly see the day coming – if it isn’t already here – when people will simply feel overwhelmed by all of the information flowing at them. Much of it is disorganized if not unreliable.

 People will want someone to make sense of it all.

That person is a journalist.

That person could be you. …

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 28th, 2009 at 8:25 am and is filed under community journalism, ethics, leading in tough times, media criticism. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.