For generations, newspapers offered more than news. They carried classified ads, coupons and listings that made them part of daily life. Those services have largely moved elsewhere, leaving journalism with a harder question: What value does it provide that people cannot get anywhere else?
In his new book, “The Next Journalism: How the Press Must Change to Serve Democracy,” Tom Rosenstiel argues that news organizations must answer by becoming more useful to the communities they serve. Rosenstiel, a co-author of “The Elements of Journalism,” says the profession’s troubles are intellectual as well as financial and technological.
Rosenstiel says news producers need to find a way to make journalism itself indispensable to the lives of the people in our communities.
That means continuing to scrutinize powerful institutions while helping people understand decisions that affect their lives and giving them information they can use.
Rosenstiel does not propose abandoning journalism’s basic standards. Reporting should still be independent, proportionate and grounded in verification, he said. But journalists can no longer assume the public will encounter their work, understand how it was produced or trust it on the newsroom’s authority alone. His book calls for greater transparency and closer collaboration with communities.
That approach brings difficult choices. Reporters may need to investigate a widely shared falsehood so people can find a reliable answer, while taking care not to spread a claim that has barely reached the public. Newsrooms also need the money and staff to provide sustained coverage, especially in communities where local reporting has shrunk.
Rosenstiel’s case for change rests on a democratic need: People must be able to find trustworthy information about public decisions and their consequences. Whether news organizations can earn the attention and financial support to provide it remains an open question.
Guest:
Tom Rosenstiel is the author of “The Next Journalism: How the Press Must Change to Serve Democracy,”
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