Friday, February 20, 2009

American Forum: Industry Experts Discuss Future of Journalism


By BRYAN KOENIG
Comm 320 Contributing Writer

Washington-News organizations need a new business model if they are to remain viable through the economic downturn and into the 21st century, a group of industry professionals said at American University Tuesday.

The pronunciation came out of an American Forum moderated panel titled “Washington Watchdogs: An Endangered Species?” broadcast in front of a live audience on WAMU 88.5 and C-Span. American University holds several such panels each semester, discussing various issues facing the media.

Moderated by AU School of Communication Associate Professor Wendell Cochran, the panel discussed the future of the news media’s function as Fourth Estate observer of and check on Washington, a role threatened by a decline in traditional news media much deeper than the economic downturn. According to the panelists, the last few years have seen vast changes in the news media and a significant downgrade of the mainstream press, including but not limited to a lessening in the way the press reports on Washington politics and policies as Americans have come to expect.

While Washington journalists have been accused of being a “pampered, isolated elite, out of touch with ordinary Americans,” Cochran said, it nevertheless “has fallen to Washington reporters to explain the workings of the federal government to the American people…traditionally, it was journalists who held politicians’ feet to the fire.” With tradition ebbing away, “today there just aren’t as many reporters to do that job.”

Panelist Tyler Marshall, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, identified three major trends facing Washington news media. First, in trying to remain economically viable, traditional news outlets have been cutting staff sharply, with fewer journalists expected to cover more and more news. Second, the overall press has been not so much shrinking but transforming in favor of a more niche oriented media with journalists working more and more for publications with specific focuses for specific audiences. Finally, according to Marshall, there has been a sharp increase in the number of foreign correspondents from other countries covering Washington, with 1,490 registered in the foreign press corps last year.

These changes stem from “increasing financial pressure,” being exerted on the mainstream media, said panelist Mark Whitaker, NBC News Senior Vice President and Washington Bureau Chief.

For the panelists, the internet has had as much if not more of an impact on news media than the economic downturn. Like all private ventures, news media needs to be economically viable. Newspaper advertisements are no longer the great business conduit they once were and many people are turning from newspaper subscriptions to identical news content they can get much more quickly on the web completely free.

According to Whitaker, the wealth of information available on the internet has made reporting much easier and more convenient, but it also threatens to make investigative reporting redundant. He speculated that a reliance on web information means confidential sources are increasingly losing their prominence as staff reductions cause new, unconnected reporters to replace the more experienced press corps whose members spent years developing such contacts.

Pondering the end of the whistleblower, Whitaker explained that without trust, contacts may lose their confidence that a “newspaper will go to bat for you,” he said, should authorities attempt to compel a paper to release their identity.

Panelist Suzanne Struglinski, Senior Editor for “Provider” magazine, worried that with fewer Washington correspondents from newspapers around the country, Americans are losing the specific emphasis local papers place on their home representative or Senator. More and more, the limited media is focusing on big, countrywide issues and is losing track of how specific issues and decisions will affect specific people and areas. National coverage involves all 535 members of Congress, too many for a detailed analysis of individual members. “That’s a lot of members of Congress,” Struglinski said.

The news media has been forced to improve efficiency “while still maintaining that crucial eyewitness journalism that there can really be no replacement for…if you’re not there… you can’t possibly see the context with which events are unfolding,” panelist Melinda Wittstock said. Founder and CEO of radio based Capitol News Connection; Wittstock identified radio as well suited for the increased need for efficiency.

For years, radio correspondents have supplied local radio stations around the country “that aren’t rich” with news, Wittstock said. While less flexible forms of media have struggled to keep up, radio is already accustomed to doing a story in “ten different ways for ten different stations.”

For all the problems newspapers face, there are areas “where they can really do a better job,” Whitaker said. “Newspapers can’t afford to be all things to all people.” Instead, Whitaker suggested individual papers do what they do best and leave different kinds of papers to provide different kinds of coverage.

The panel was not entirely bleak in its assessment of Washington media. According to Whitaker, ratings have seen the first growth in recent memory. Whitaker attributed the improved ratings to an increased interest among audiences, owing in large part to Barack Obama’s election and inauguration to President as well as the economic downturn.

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