JOURNALISM THAT MATTERS is a community of media innovators and stakeholders that blazes paths and builds bridges to a new news ecology. We convene, connect, and inspire the diverse, engaged citizens who are molding and leading the media of tomorrow.
JOURNALISM THAT MATTERS hosts conversations with a purpose. It engages the entire system of journalism – reporters, editors, publishers, camera people, photographers, academics and audience, from newspapers, radio, television, and online media, including both mainstream and alternative sources – with the changing nature and definition of news in a changing world. The point is to recommit journalism to what is fundamental for connecting news with its audience so that it serves and sustains us.
The New News Ecology
The future of journalism centers around the power of storytelling to create healthy communities. Specifically:
Cultivating “healthy journalists”, renewing the inner life of the journalist;
Preparing the next generation, with an eye towards the emerging citizen journalist; and
Inventing a new economic model. As one participant put it, “Rather than further compromise the work, it’s time to separate journalism from its current funding sources and find a new model.”
Some of its seeds include:
· Journalism as a conversation – a groundbreaking shift from journalism as a lecture;
· Shaping a new “cultural narrative”— Recovering the mythic story of journalists as conveners and navigators through a changing world prepares them to support communities in shaping a new national “master narrative” for our times.
· High tech/high touch journalism – Whether on the web or in the café, new storytelling forms are emerging that engage us on cell phones and iPods, and in gathering places with food, music and the arts; and
· Ready, Fire, Aim – A strategy of “just do it,” moving from idea (ready) to implementation (fire) and then watching the results and adjusting (aim). This formula creates rapid experimentation and learning and avoids analysis paralysis.
By metaphorically removing the newsroom walls and taking the journalist out of the cube, the qualities of the new news ecology emerge:
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CURRENT NEWSROOM |
NEW NEWS ECOLOGY |
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Journalism as… |
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lecture |
conversation |
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low tolerance for experimentation (like peanut butter in the fridge; it doesn’t move) |
community of innovation |
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central authority |
community connector |
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knowledge-centric |
relationship-centric |
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one-to-many |
many-to-many |
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profit-driven |
mission-driven |
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Journalist as… |
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outsider |
community member |
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lone wolf |
collaborative partner |
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gatekeeper |
sense-maker |
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focused on the external world |
focused on their inner life and the external world |
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expert, arbiter of truth |
coordinator, facilitator, convener, evaluator, refiner |
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professional, dispassionate |
professional and citizen, passion in the mix |
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content creator |
content creator and guide |
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Content that… |
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arouses |
inspires engagement |
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publisher owns and creates |
public owns and creates |
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answers who, what when, where, why and how |
answers who, what when, where, why, how, and what’s possible now |
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pours around the ads |
serves a greater good |
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follows the inverted pyramid |
edited for readability, not style |
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Stories sourced… |
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from within the news organization |
from many people and places |
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are deadline driven |
are continually unfolding |
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Dissemination of stories… |
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media specific |
multi-purpose (e.g., print, broadcast, web, podcast, cell phone, etc.) |
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Economics… |
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ad supported |
multiple sources of support |
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high cost of production and distribution |
low-cost distribution |
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most of the cost is not journalism |
costs mostly journalism related |
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Education … |
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for journalists |
for: |
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in journalism’s values and tools |
in: |
Contact Us
jtm@mediagiraffe.org
425-746-6274
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