When you stop to think about it, D.C. is quite the media hub. Domestic, abroad, local, nation-wide – the District is more than the nation’s capital. It’s where history is made. It’s where news is born.
Washington, D.C. is home to the President of the United States, college students, diplomats, families born and raised in the region, but also the country’s only museum devoted to first amendment rights.
The Newseum is a perfect example of the convergence in today’s media. The accessibility of the new interactive multi-media experience combined with reliability of the old hard-nose reporting mindset of journalism are covered by the Newseum’s many exhibits. However, it’s their Reel Journalism series that continues to tackle the ever-evolving state of journalism through panel conversations between moderator Nick Clooney, the most respected names in media today, and the well-informed news junkies that occupy the audience.
Recently they ended a final installment of the year-long monthly journalism film series for the 2010 season in which Meet the Press executive producer Besty Fischer and host David Gregory were asked to discuss the 2009 film “State of Play.”
What started off as a film discussion developed into a relevant dialogue about the state of journalism with the rapid growth of internet-only media and rabid bloggers.
“Stage of Play” set the stage for a civil debate regarding the culture clash of old media methods and ethics versus new media’s sense of immediacy.
But the question remains, new and old media aside, is the bottom line killing journalism?
It’s unfortunate but money is a major driver in what print and broadcast can and cannot do. This is a particular problem for the current state of the economy the heavy burden of a looming recession.
Just this last week, the monetary bottom line continues to show up in unexpected but understandable places. It isn’t just the media. Collegiate sports are in the process of an overhaul. All the fuss over who goes to the Pac-10 or stays in the Big 12 seems like a plea for increased revenue during a recession.
“College athletics are a business and it’s delusional to think otherwise. The people paying the bills have as much cause to explore revenue options as anyone else,” USA Today’s Mike Lopresti wrote last week.
At the end of the day, money is an undeniable factor.
Nick Clooney flat out asked his panel, “Are newspapers dead?” The response was encouraging but goes back to that darn bottom line. “Well I think there’s a lot of tension about this. Attention within journalism about the role of newspapers and the role of new media,” Gregory said. “It’s all for a business story. Now they are expected to make money.”
There still remains some good amongst the budget cuts. Advancements to social media are catering to the news needs of reporters and bloggers alike, increasing the overall daily intake of new information.
There’s no way to bring up new media and not mention Twitter. Hearing Nick Clooney ask about the 140 character blogging tool made the night of convergence that much more apparent.
“I do Twitter a lot,” Fischer said. “What I use it for is really kind of a news feed and the people I follow are other reporters. So I look at it through the day as like a mini wire service and it is very helpful because other journalists are flagging things, reporting information.”
What’s the selling point? “It’s quick and easy and it’s right there.”
Gregory disagreed.
“I do [use Twitter] but I have to say that I’m cautious about all this,” he said. “I mean I think we’re in the great kind of sorting out period.”
What’s being sorted out is what is the media doing and how.
Gregory’s main point on the night goes back to information value and reporting. “I’ve got my laptop. At some point I’ll have an iPad. But I’m also reading magazines. I’m still picking them up because I’m going to sources that are going to give me a greater sense of context and I really hope that doesn’t get lost in this accessibility.”
The internet, however, has enabled the capability to see a broad spectrum of perspectives, which is refreshing. Without the internet, this post wouldn’t exist. These perspectives would not have been thrown together within such a quick time of turnaround after an event that took place yesterday evening.
In the words of Bob Dylan, the times they are a-changin’.
Fischer shared an anecdote about being an intern 20 years ago here in D.C. When there was a guest on the show that day – her example was Bob Dole – Fischer would call the Kansas affiliate to ask, “What’s in the Kansas City Star this morning? Is there anything on Bob Dole? If there is something can you fax it over?” Now, you type it up and voila – news at your fingertips.
What’s changed so much? “You have now a den of information and opinion at a level that here before has never been seen. And it makes real-time expectations, criticisms, scrutiny sort of out pace events that create a lot of different pressure in a lot of different areas.”
News is moving at a lighting pace, which is something President Obama complained about during the 2008 President Campaign and Stephen Strasburg has and continues to experience seeing being selected in last year’s draft and now in his rookie season. But there is a self-imposed restriction as a result of the real-time coverage.
It’s fast and it’s convenient but exposure to vantage points outside of personal interest could be on the decline. Gregory is worried that the convenience factor is encouraging news consumers to stick to what they know, which leads those individuals reading pieces with favorable opinions toward their own interests. That is not the purpose of the news.
“Reporting can bring things to you that you didn’t think about being interested in or bring you to a point of view that you hadn’t thought about. And some of that I fear is being lost,” he said.
Well, it doesn’t have to be lost. The Newseum hopes to aid the effort and thwart this fear by continuing to have dialogues like this one via the Reel Journalism series.
Clooney mentioned that there are plans looming for the 2011 Reel Journalism series with new films, new guests, and maybe even a few updates to the standard sit-down, talk, watch a movie, and talk some-more format currently in place.
“We have an awful lot of people interested in news coming to this,” Clooney said. “We solicit some questions particularly from this community that are very professional. These folks know what they’re talking about.”
Blame it on D.C. or blame it on the media, but no matter who you want to blame people in this city consume the news whether it’s in 140 characters or less, online, in the papers, on the magazine stands, live television or radio.
Gregory did say it best to end the night though, “Imagine if we didn’t have newspapers. Where would all the content come from?”
