Making journalism better — and more sustainable: A recap of our August 5 exchange
On Wednesday, August 5, about 65 people participated in an Engaged Journalism Exchange focused on perhaps the most pressing question facing journalists today: How is Covid-19 changing the way journalism researchers and practitioners approach news quality and economics?
The past several months have shaken up so many things with the pandemic and uprisings over police violence. They have also presented a lot of challenges to journalists — like how to engage vulnerable communities with limited internet access. And it’s put a lot of preexisting inequities and problems into sharper relief — like how can we have journalism that is more inclusive, and how can we sustain it when the business model is so clearly broken?
Wednesday’s Exchange — which also served as an AEJMC preconference — explored what we can learn from this moment and what we can take away from it, particularly to push for more equitable and inclusive journalism systems and practices.
The two hour event was divided into two sections: the first focused on news quality, and the second on news economics. For the first half, we heard from Letrell Crittenden (Thomas Jefferson University) about efforts to ensure that the information needs of marginalized communities are served in Philadelphia. In addition, Antoine Haywood (University of Pennsylvania) and Mike Wassenaar (Alliance for Community Media) shared their research study looking at lessons in participatory journalism that can be learned from community access media.
The second hour explored journalism business models — particularly focusing on public funding for journalism. We heard perspectives from Madeleine Bair (Free Press) and Victor Pickard (University of Pennsylvania).
After each of these presentations, the meeting opened up to questions from participants before shifting to small discussions in breakout groups. The full video of the event, including the Q&A and the shareback from the small group discussions, is available here.
Engaged Journalism Exchanges are organized by Andrea Wenzel, an assistant professor at Temple University, and Jacob Nelson, an assistant professor at Arizona State University. They are sponsored by Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia University, the Agora Journalism Center at the University of Oregon, the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University, Klein College of Media and Communication at Temple University, the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, and the Participatory Journalism Interest Group of the Association for the Education of Journalism and Mass Communication.
