Now here’s someone who is quite optimistic about the future of journalism in the US. Steve Coll, a former staff writer for The New Yorker, has become director at Columbia University’s School of Journalism. In an interview for Brazil’s Folha de S.Paulo newspaper, he believes media revenues are not falling as much as during the recession.
There is now new investments in media, though not all of these are into quality journalism. Even then, there are new ideas to create content and build audiences. Several NGOs (non-governmental organisations) are sponsoring investigative jounalism and there is no doubt attached to the importance of journalism when it comes to bring on accountability and transparency in public institutions.
But a young journalist will need to invent their careers in a more entrepreneurial way. They will have to change employers more often.
Successful models
Successful journalism models include that of The Atlantic magazine, which made a successful transition from paper to digital, and Buzzfeed which has managed to turn its audience into revenues.
Journalism on Pay TV in the US is immensely profitable, going by those of Fox News, MSNBC and Bloomberg.
For editors, Coll’s advice is to make a mix of what’s important, what’s fun, what’s local and what is global. Such discussions may not always serve the reader, but there is no doubt that serious investigations or stories of global subjects have their space. They would be neglected if the first page was treated as a summation of what is popular.
All professional newsrooms are on Twitter, and Facebook is already heavily polluted by trade, Coll states.
The role of philanthropy is growing, as can be made out by the contributions of someone like Pierre Omidyar (founder and chairman of eBay) into journalism initiatives. At least in the US, there are many who see value in quality journalism and that it can be expensive to support.
It is difficult to create a sustainable model without profits. “In Columbia University, with support from foundations, we will have sponsorship to create great stories for students to graduate with the collaboration of outside journalists,” Coll says.
Using Big Data
Columbia University’s emphasis is less on how to start a business, but in knowing how to use the data science and computing and apply it to journalism. These are necessary tools in modern newsrooms.
The new journalist profile is someone like Nate Silver, a blogger who predicted the results of the US presidential election of 2012 based on available data. He did so by separating the good from bad data and making the correct predictions.
