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?

He advocates for societal change, talking about a case of Catholic priests who abused 100 boys, who were eventually sent to rehab when questioned.

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.)?

Newspapers held significant influence over advertisements. Companies could not leave a story published by the newspaper due to the lack of alternatives.

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?

People are engaging with news stories shared on social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook.

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?

The story  would have been more widespread if the internet was more accessible.

5) Why does Shirky argue against paywalls? 

He suggests that the current news model restricts the sharing of news articles could lead to a decrease in viewership and sharing. This could potentially cause news publishers to self publish thus affecting the business model of news companies.

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

A good that benefits society as a whole. Journalism can expose evil therefore it helps the society.

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?

He suggests increased accountability journalism, but it's short-term and won't completely replace newspapers, as it maintains the same structure.

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?

Not important. I don't know anybody my age reading newspapers and that will just keep getting rarer. All my information I get from many different social media sources.

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?

Political, Economic, Journalistic fields

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

In a corporate news world it is now difficult to maintain profit margins and shareholder returns – unless you employ fewer journalists. This means not only insecure, short-term contracts, but also fewer journalists with more space to fill in less time. And this often leads to a greater use of unattributed rewrites of press agency or public relations material, and the cut- and-paste practice now known as churnalism.

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 afraid of negative publicity and damaging their re-election chances due to their close ties to big media players. This has led to a lack of investigation into news media wrongdoings, media conglomerate expansion, and new regulation. Journalists are often intimidated to stand up against a bullying culture where commercial priorities are prioritized over journalistic responsibility. This limits democratic freedom for ordinary members of the public, as governments are not distorted by the private interests of media conglomerates. The media becomes de-democratizing when news proprietors accumulate excessive power and influence.

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?

I believe that internet is too young to know for sure. It's been here for 30 years and it's constantly evolving and changing the world around it. Anybody can become influencers and there are many good one that give good messages. I mean I've grown up with YouTube and I'm thankful for these youtubers that made mine and many other kids childhoods. However, because of that anybody can become and influencer as it paying very good it's easy to get greedy. Big corpos can easily sponsor big influences and tell them what they can talk about and what they can't.