The Effect of Changes in Journalism on Democracy

Rio de Janeiro.
As part of my last overseas trip for this year, I’ve made it to Brazil for SBPJor, the conference of Brazilian journalism researchers – which opens with a keynote by John Pavlik. (My own plenary presentation follows tomorrow morning.) John’s focus is on the consequences of digital journalism for democracy: chief amongst these, disruption and innovation in the journalism industry; the emergence of a digital divide between those with and without access; the development of more robust interactive media; greater transparency in government; and increased civic participation.

Disruption and innovation is driven by greater access to high-speed wired and wireless Internet, as well as new (also mobile) technologies which enable us to connect to these networks. Additionally, the global economic downturn also presents great challenges for the media to reinvent themselves; this has been a problem for the mainstream media, but also provides opportunities for new media players to step into the breach.

This has been felt especially by newspapers, whose advertising revenues have dropped precipitously while online advertising in new media platforms has grown; many newspapers especially in the U.S. have closed, and senior journalists, especially, have been made redundant in cost-saving measures – this is especially problematic as it has led to the disappearance of a great deal of valuable expertise.

At the same time, the U.S. e-reader market has grown substantially, and new newspaper-style platforms have emerged (such as Murdoch’s The Daily); this may signal as significant a change to the newspaper industry as Benjamin Day’s ‘Penny Press’, John suggests. Murdoch suggests that this will make the news business viable again, but this remains to be seen – and as he and his news organisation have been shown to have lost their ‘ethical compass’, as John says, they are fighting an uphill battle to retain and regain customers. Price points, at any rate, still need to be determined. (New technologies may also make possible flexible electronic displays that more closely resemble the experience of reading newspapers.)

Other developments include hyperlocal news sites, staffed by local editors and covering a small geographic area, with the involvement of citizen journalist contributors; one example of this is Patch.com, which draws on one staff journalist and several freelancers for the various local areas it covers. As newspapers decline, hyperlocal journalist may be filling the void.

The digital divide is another serious problem, of course, and it threatens democracy. News on matters of public importance has usually been available for free or at low cost, but differential access to digital technologies and content changes this – this is no longer free media, but ‘fee media’. Some 36% of the U.S. population still lack access to broadband Internet access at home; 10% lack any form of broadband access.

Other access technologies are just as problematic. Because of copyright disputes, purchased copies of Orwell’s 1984 were suddenly pulled remotely by Amazon from customers’ Kindles overnight, for example, without alerting customers beforehand. This couldn’t have happened to a more ironic title, of course.

At the same time, niche newspapers like the Wall Street Journal continue to flourish – but this does not help the newspaper industry’s mission of supporting an informed democratic citizenry; as we move further to online media (and as some of those platforms are paywalled), new digital divides emerge. In the U.S., television remains dominant (but is a poor medium for political news); as newspapers disappear, where will citizens get their political news?

Mobile TV (including citizen journalism formats) are another key growth area; all major news services are now delivering mobile TV services. Such services provide an opportunity to reinvent content formats; one area of experimentation includes augmented reality.

Another important area for new developments is the push towards greater transparency in government, for example through sites like WikiLeaks. Additionally, greater civic participation is also enabled through social media platforms; we have seen this clearly in the Arab Spring, John says. Such media enable news to go globally viral instantly; this often bypasses ethical and other concerns (as in the recent sharing of video showing the death of Muamar Gaddafi, for example).

Social media, in fact, now regularly deliver breaking news faster than traditional news; authoritarian regimes push against this by shutting off Internet services, but this has only tended to fuel revolts even further. What is the role of civility in public discourse, then, and how does such discourse form in new online media?

Does digital technology drive significant change, then? Perhaps many small changes add up to a major effect after all, pace Gladwell; this is similar to the way that microloan schemes have transformed the economies in which such schemes have been attempted. With so much more access to information worldwide, especially through mobile media, the question is how this will translate into innovative and truly independent journalism.