I was on a panel at the MEAA backed Future of Journalism conference in Brisbane on Saturday. Bronwen Clune and Cam Reilly have covered a lot of what was discussed. The Twitter feed from the day fills out some gaps.
As usual at these things, there was a lot of circular discussion, some confusion, and much furious agreement.
It seems to me the future of journalism relies heavily on the future of publishing. And it's in connecting those two things that the debate constantly gets lost.
But here's a practical idea - and a serious challenge to Chris Warren and the MEAA:
The current Fairfax layoffs will probably put more than 100 experienced journos on the market in Sydney and Melbourne. Many, if not most of them are not interested in turning themselves into publishing entrepreneurs. They want to keep doing journalism.
Most of them will be offered company redundancy packages. But rather than simply accepting a redundancy offer and hoping for the best, as some have suggested, why not take the opportunity to organise as a start-up publishing operation on a digital platform with a combination of syndication and display ad revenues? As an employee-owned, equity backed arrangement it could be a unique and imaginative attempt to find an alternative solution to the publishing challenge.
But this would really only work with the MEAA's complete involvement in getting the members to consider a proposal. It would also require the MEAA to broker some sort of equity support - they'd need to find the partner. But the contribution needn't be a prohibitive amount. In fact the best PR Fairfax could get out of this situation is to support exactly this sort of initiative themselves.
But if Fairfax weren't willing, others might be. The creative and journalistic talent is there, it just needs a publisher with reasonable pockets and a willingness to take a risk. There are a few around. Eric Beecher is one who has put his money where his mouth is. In fact Crikey Blogs is not a bad model for exactly what I'm suggesting.
Who else?
At the Brisbane conference, discussing tools and techniques for digital journalism are, l-r: Bronwen Clune from Norgmedia, John O'Brien from the Courier Mail and David Higgins from News.com.au. Moderator is Peter Lewis from ABC's Landline.
1 comment:
Hi Hugh,
It was great meeting you on Saturday and great to hear your thoughts.
I just can't help but voice my thoughts on your explanation that the future of journalism debate gets lost because people forget it relies on the future of publishing. I agree, but I also think it relies heavily on journalists and people may be forgetting that. Some of the attitudes on Saturday seemed to suggest that the future is out of our control, something we just have to deal with as it comes along. I like to think we can take a more proactive approach.
Adaptation and innovation are part of the solution, of course, but I also think it's really important to take a stance and commit to it as much as possible. I think people get too tied up in what the audience wants, forgetting they themselves can be a part of the audience at times.
A good example from Saturday was a question directed at the panel I was on about whether young people really do care about celebrities. I didn't go into it too much, but I think a better question would be "what is it about celebrities that gets a response from people"? If we ask those sorts of questions I think we can find the fundamentals of what news is becoming and, in turn, where journalism could be heading.
In that same vein I'd say it's also important as a journalist to know what interests you. The popularity of blogs suggest people want to hear other peoples thoughts. Hard news will always be hard news, as far as I'm concerned, but there's more scope for movement in features across every medium of journalism.
Anyway, I'm glad I found your blog and had a chance to share my perspective (again). It was great talking to you after the conference on Saturday and I hope to see you again soon.
Best wishes,
Amy
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