The Future of Journalism: Blog tasks

Part 1: Clay Shirky lecture

Go to the Nieman Lab webpage (part of Harvard university) and watch the video of Clay Shirky presenting to Harvard students. The video is also available on YouTube below but the Nieman Lab website has a written transcript of everything Shirky says. 

Play the clip AND read along with the transcript below to ensure you are following the argument. You need to watch from the beginning to 29.35 (the end of Shirky's presentation). Once you've watched and read the presentation and made notes (you may want to copy and paste key quotes from the transcript which is absolutely fine), answer the questions below:

1) Why does Clay Shirky argue that 'accountability journalism' is so important and what example does he give of this?

Clay Shirky argues that accountability journalism is important as it holds powerful individuals and institutions responsible for their actions. This is important as we see through the example of a priest being a paedophile and raping over 100 boys in his care. 

2) What does Shirky say about the relationship between newspapers and advertisers? Which websites does he mention as having replaced major revenue-generators for newspapers (e.g. jobs, personal ads etc.)?

Shirky says about the relationship between newspapers and advertisers that it is crumbling. This is because businesses has stopped putting their adverts into physical forms of newspapers and decided to move ahead with the times and changed of society and decided to focus more on digital advertising instead. Making newspapers suffer.   

3) Shirky talks about the 'unbundling of content'. This means people are reading newspapers in a different way. How does he suggest audiences are consuming news stories in the digital age?

Audiences are consuming news stories in the digital age by only focusing on the news that they care about. A good example of Shirky talking about this is if a person is doing an online word cross puzzle they will want to carry on focusing doing more different word cross puzzles as this is what they care about which in the same sense works for audiences and newspapers as they will want to only read news or similar news with the things they care about and where their interests lie.  

4) Shirky also talks about the power of shareable media. How does he suggest the child abuse scandal with the Catholic Church may have been different if the internet had been widespread in 1992?

If the internet was around when the time of the child abuse scandal with the Catholic Church was happening Shirky argues that this story would have gotten spread straight away causing awareness and putting a stop to this way more earlier and would not have been allowed to go on for as long as it did.  

5) Why does Shirky argue against paywalls? 

Shikry argues in using paywalls as it restricts readers from accessing content they want to read. This is because having to pay for news for 'premium content' is not going to work as people will not be wanting to pay for the news especially in this day and age where we can get the news for free via social media or going onto other news websites. 

6) What is a 'social good'? In what way might journalism be a 'social good'?

Social good is when there is something good that happens within society and everyone benefits from it. Journalism might be a 'social good' as these are people who are in charge for finding the latest scoop whether that be a murder crime, corruption or even exposing powerful politicians journalists are seen as a way to bring social good in society as they help to expose the positives and negatives news that is going on around the world.  

7) Shirky says newspapers are in terminal decline. How does he suggest we can replace the important role in society newspapers play? What is the short-term danger to this solution that he describes?

Shikry suggests how we can repalce the important role in society that newspapers play by having a a class of institutions or models, whether they’re endowments or crowd sourced we need a model that produces five percent of accountability journalism and need to get that right 17 times in a row. However, what the main issue is for this solution is that the old models are breaking faster than the new models can be put into place for accountability journalism and Shirky suggests that we might run out of accountability journalism one day if no one helps support or fund them. 

8) Look at the first question and answer regarding institutional power. Give us your own opinion: how important is it that major media brands such as the New York Times or the Guardian continue to stay in business and provide news?

Major brands such as the New York Times and the Guardian need to continue staying in business and provide news as both of these Newspapers are established businesses. This is because they have been going around producing and finding news for years which a lot of people (even if it is decreasing) trust and will still pick up and read. I don't think the New York Times or the Guardian will ever get out of business but they will adapt their strategies and ways of how audiences receive their news and focus on the digital world more and how they can reach their audiences more online as another alternative way in staying in business and still being noticed in audiences eyes. 

Part 2: MM55 - Media, Publics, Protest and Power

Media Magazine 55 has an excellent feature on power and the media. Go to our Media Magazine archive, click on MM55 and scroll to page 38 to read the article Media, Publics, Protest and Power', a summary of Media academic Natalie Fenton’s talk to a previous Media Magazine conference. Answer the following questions:

1) What are the three overlapping fields that have an influence on the relationship between media and democracy?

The three overlapping fields that have an influence on the relationship between media and democracy are political, economic and journalistic. Political field is when the state powerfully limits or enables the diversity of voices and views in the press, Economic field refers to commercial influences such as concentration of ownership, types of funding such as advertising or paying audiences and level and intensity of market competition. Journalistic field refers to assumptions that have emerged over time about what constitutes ‘news’, and about the purpose of journalism; practices of news gathering and sourcing. 

2) What is ‘churnalism’ and what issues are there currently in journalism?

Churnalism is the usage of news that gets repeated or talked about in different ways time and time again. The current issues that journalists are facing is struggling to keep up with how fast news gets spread and finding out new types of news to keep audiences engaged, This is because of having 24 hour TV news and having access to mobile phones and social media it is very hard to keep up with the distribution of news and finding out new pieces of news. Journalists also face losing their job contracts with businesses as they just cannot keep them up with the payroll due to the public not caring and supporting their projects and work by funding them money. 

3) What statistics are provided by Fenton to demonstrate the corporate dominance of a small number of conglomerates? 

Just three companies control 71% of UK national newspaper circulation while only five groups control more than 80% of combined online and offline news. Unchecked media concentration over several decades has allowed some media groups to accumulate vast amounts of revenue, along with social and political influence, which has adverse consequences for independent journalism and democracy. Such market dominance of news media results in an excess of power and unruly political influence that breeds fear.

4) What is the 'climate of fear' that Fenton writes about in terms of politics and the media? 

The 'climate of fear' that Fenton writes about in terms of politics and the media is that politicians are scared for themselves and their parties that they represent and getting bad publicity even if it's not their fault. An example that is mentioned is the Levinson enquiry which is important as some politicians even though they were not part of the corrupt culture and ethics of the British Press they were still close with the people who were in charge of it making them look bad in the public eyes as well. 

5) Fenton finishes her article by discussing pluralism, the internet and power. What is your opinion on this crucial debate - has the internet empowered audiences and encouraged democracy or is power even more concentrated in the hands of a few corporate giants?

The internet has definitely empowered audiences and encouraged democracy. This is because thanks to the internet it has given people a place to have a voice where they can say and comment or make their own opinion on something and be heard. I feel like the internet has done more of an advantage to the people and encouraged democracy than the corporate giants as they are struggling to maintain and keep up with the growth of how powerful the internet has become and how it can turn on them so easily. A massive example of how the internet has empowered audiences is the #BlackLivesMatter (BLM). This was a huge awareness protest over the death of a 17 year old boy which caused the majority of black people around the world to participate in this movement and raise awareness. The BLM would not have been as successful if it was not for the internet and protesters being able to voice and reach out for help and spread their message across and make an influential change. The internet has allowed this and has put people in positions and roles where they can make themselves feel powerful and inform people with what is going on and ask for their help and support.