Speaking about the changes that journalism has undergone, former Atlanta Journal-Constitution government and public affairs editor and current George Washington University professor Al May said that when they first told him that he had to put his email address at the end of his story, he was flabbergasted. “I’ll be deluged,” he thought. “Instead,” he laughed, “it was, ‘Is anybody out there?’”
I think any writer in today’s age has wondered that at times. Why am I hearing from people on this topic and not that one? The story on that one is better! It used to be, said Geneva Overholser, Pulitzer Prize winner and former director of USC’s Annenberg School of Journalism, that journalists published what they thought the public needed to know. Now the mechanisms are in place to find out.
“Fundamentally, journalists do need to care about what [their audience] is interested in,” Overholser said. “You have to care about what people want.”
The occasion for this discussion was a talk this week at GWU’s School of Media and Public Affairs on Reinventing Professionalism: Journalism and News in Global Perspective. How do we maintain that level of professionalism for journalists in this new age when everyone is a writer? People may not want to pay for great journalism, but they probably won’t pay for bad journalism either. May’s story—plus the ensuing discussion—led to one of today’s fundamental questions: Are we trying hard enough to find out what our audience wants?
Specialized publishing has the advantage of a niche community that you are helping to foster with resources and information. Building that community and providing it a forum then becomes a huge factor. How are you listening to your audience? Are you getting comments from articles or blog posts? Are you testing? Are you talking to them at your live events and through social media? Are you monitoring Twitter? Do they have their own forum? Are you surveying at the end of webinars? It’s probably worth an incentive or two to get that feedback.
The panelists still believe in the power of good journalism. However, they did wonder aloud, “How do you make that part of someone’s everyday routine?” Columbia Journalism School Professor Michael Schudson said he was surprised that when he visited a music school, they were not just teaching musicianship. They were also teaching entrepreneurship. It’s something journalism can learn from, he said.
“It’s still a great moment to be a journalist,” Overholser said. “I don’t think professionalism has been undermined [by citizen journalism].” You would just hope that people will realize the value of “having a professional journalism source as part of their daily diet.” This is also part of the reason that building your mobile business becomes essential. If you are to succeed at supplying a “daily diet” to your community, then it has to look appealing on every platform.
Overholser said that the most important element today is the “collaboration between journalist and reader.” Do they trust us? Are we telling them what they need to know? Do they follow you? It may just be that the definition of good journalism has changed. Yesterday it was more about ethics and fancy prose. Today, good may just mean helpful.
She ended by using a Churchill quote to defend journalism: “It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried.” Journalism may not be perfect any more—indeed, citizen journalism can make us cringe at times—but it’s still what some of us signed up for and remain passionate about. Nobody said it was going to be easy.
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Ronn Levine began his career as a reporter for The Washington Post and has won numerous writing and publications awards since. Most recently, he spent 12 years at the Newspaper Association of America covering a variety of topics before joining SIPA in 2009 as managing editor. Follow Ronn on Twitter at @SIPAOnline