What’s Happening to Our News?
22 Jan 09
The digital revolution threatens the quality and commercial viability of British journalism, according to a report by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism.
The report What’s Happening to Our News?, launched today at the Oxford Media Convention at the Said Business School, says advertisers are deserting newspapers and television news programmes for the web, draining resources away from newsgathering.
Quality is also threatened by the arrival of what is terms the ‘clickstream’: some editors admit they consult web data during the day and channel greater resources to the stories that are likely to attract more hits and therefore more advertising. To improve the visibility of digital news content, particularly on search engines, publishers are altering the tone and focus of news, for example by linking to celebrities or using emotive language, the report says.
Andrew Currah, report author and Visiting Fellow at RISJ, said: ‘Publishers are in danger of being reduced to the digital equivalent of a windsock, shaped by the short-term whims of the news consumer. Stories are frequently imbued with a large amount of blame, negativity and sensationalism, which obscures the real issues and misinforms citizens.’
Tim Gardam, Chair of the RISJIt remains hard to imagine a civil society that functions effectively, or a citizenry that can hold its government democratically to account, without a confident, independent and viable media.
Tim Gardam, Chair of the RISJ, said: ‘It remains hard to imagine a civil society that functions effectively, or a citizenry that can hold its government democratically to account, without a confident, independent and viable media.’
The report highlights the unprecedented pressures that the digital revolution has placed on journalists, who are now expected to process the news into print, online text and real-time video as quickly as possible. The tyranny of the clickstream is that is exposes the productivity and popularity of journalists, which has led to an erosion of ‘thinking time’, more factual inaccuracies and spelling mistakes.
The report concludes that British journalism needs some form of life support, and that the government must play a role in protecting high-quality, balanced news coverage. As the commercial news media struggle to generate revenue from the web, the report finds that the BBC online news content is not determined by the clickstream and its civic role, particularly for young people, has become increasingly important.
The report’s recommendations include a government review of the charity laws with the possibility of opening up this source of funding to independent, professional journalists; targeted tax breaks for investigative journalists; and a voluntary set of media standards, leading to a digital kitemark to enhance the visibility of professional journalism on the web.
The report, while stressing the importance of the government’s role in protecting British journalism, warns against any form of government intervention that puts the freedom of the news media at risk.