The Future of Journalism
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?
''And they weren’t deep truths — the commercial success of newspapers and their linking of that to accountability journalism wasn’t a deep truth about reality. Best Buy was not willing to support the Baghdad bureau because Best Buy cared about news from Baghdad. They just didn’t have any other good choices.''
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.)?
''The institutions harrying newspapers — Monster and Match and Craigslist — all have the logic that if you want to list a job or sell a bike, you don’t go to the place that’s printing news from Antananarivo and the crossword puzzle. You go to the place that’s good for listing jobs and selling bikes. And so if you had a good idea for a business, you wouldn’t launch it in order to give the profits to the newsroom. You’d launch it in order to give the profits to the shareholders.''
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?
Shirky says how audiences no longer consume news as a whole but instead they access individual stories alone through social media meaning they can choose where they get their news from.
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?
''We can’t say that if the web had been in wide circulation in ’92, that the Stanley case would have created the reaction to Geoghan case. But what we can say is that many of the good effects in limiting the Catholic Church’s ability to continue doing this were a result of the public reuse of the documents in ways that were simply not possible in 1992 and had become not just available, but trivial by 2000.''
5) Why does Shirky argue against paywalls?
He argues that a paywall damages general news and benefits financial news.
6) What is a 'social good'? In what way might journalism be a 'social good'?
A social good is something that benefits a whole society, rather than individuals. Journalism can be a social good because it informs the public and benefits multiple people.
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
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.
4) What is the 'climate of fear' that Fenton writes about in terms of politics and the media?
Politicians are fearful of career-wrecking and life- ruining negative publicity, along with damage to their parties’ chances of re-election.
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?
Although the internet first made it possible for people to participate in democracy, I believe that actual media variety has been limited by the few corporate giants such as Google and Meta. To guarantee a more balanced media environment, audiences must be critical information consumers and encourage independent journalism.
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?
''And they weren’t deep truths — the commercial success of newspapers and their linking of that to accountability journalism wasn’t a deep truth about reality. Best Buy was not willing to support the Baghdad bureau because Best Buy cared about news from Baghdad. They just didn’t have any other good choices.''
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.)?
''The institutions harrying newspapers — Monster and Match and Craigslist — all have the logic that if you want to list a job or sell a bike, you don’t go to the place that’s printing news from Antananarivo and the crossword puzzle. You go to the place that’s good for listing jobs and selling bikes. And so if you had a good idea for a business, you wouldn’t launch it in order to give the profits to the newsroom. You’d launch it in order to give the profits to the shareholders.''
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?
Shirky says how audiences no longer consume news as a whole but instead they access individual stories alone through social media meaning they can choose where they get their news from.
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?
''We can’t say that if the web had been in wide circulation in ’92, that the Stanley case would have created the reaction to Geoghan case. But what we can say is that many of the good effects in limiting the Catholic Church’s ability to continue doing this were a result of the public reuse of the documents in ways that were simply not possible in 1992 and had become not just available, but trivial by 2000.''
5) Why does Shirky argue against paywalls?
He argues that a paywall damages general news and benefits financial news.
6) What is a 'social good'? In what way might journalism be a 'social good'?
A social good is something that benefits a whole society, rather than individuals. Journalism can be a social good because it informs the public and benefits multiple people.
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?
''So I think we are headed into a long trough of decline in accountability journalism, because the old models are breaking faster than the new models can be put into place.'' He basically says that journalism is declining and new models cannot be put into place 'fast enough'.
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?
I think that it is crucial that major media brands like The New York Times and The Guardian continue operating because they are well known and are a trusted source of information that the public relies on. There is a risk that misinformation will spread and important stories that they cover may go unreported.
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 political field, the economic field and the journalistic field.
2) What is ‘churnalism’ and what issues are there currently in journalism?
Churnalism is a greater use of unattributed rewrites of press agency or public relations material, and the cut-and-paste practice.
''So I think we are headed into a long trough of decline in accountability journalism, because the old models are breaking faster than the new models can be put into place.'' He basically says that journalism is declining and new models cannot be put into place 'fast enough'.
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?
I think that it is crucial that major media brands like The New York Times and The Guardian continue operating because they are well known and are a trusted source of information that the public relies on. There is a risk that misinformation will spread and important stories that they cover may go unreported.
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 political field, the economic field and the journalistic field.
2) What is ‘churnalism’ and what issues are there currently in journalism?
Churnalism is a greater use of unattributed rewrites of press agency or public relations material, and the cut-and-paste practice.
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.
4) What is the 'climate of fear' that Fenton writes about in terms of politics and the media?
Politicians are fearful of career-wrecking and life- ruining negative publicity, along with damage to their parties’ chances of re-election.
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?
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