Al Tompkins, of Al’s Morning Meeting on Poynter, posted a column this week about the changing values that audiences share and how that value shift is changing the way news is consumed, and thus reported.
The column features a Q and A session with Scripps Networks President John Lansing, who was quoted in the Wall Street Journal saying, “”It’s not so much [that we have] a different audience but an audience that’s acting different. Their value system is shifting from aspiring to material wealth to aspiring to a life better lived.”
This is an interesting way to think about the way people should invest in media.
Lansing says that people crave authenticity in their news, and that what they are getting is the Wal-Mart mass produced broadcast that anyone with B-roll and final cut could put together. This is key in understanding why people are not worried about the decline of local news— journalists have not proven themselves capable of doing a job better than any old hack off the street. The craft of journalism has been diminished to the equivalent of a 6th grader writing small reports for school every day. Authenticity means truly understanding the subject, talking to the REAL players (not just the talking heads) and digging deeper than anyone with an Internet connection could. It’s adding the context that differentiates journalists from any old blogger on the Web. It’s becoming an expert in a field and reporting on that field as an independent entity.
These old values are still the central part of journalism, and should be what companies strive to return to. Reinvesting in investigative journalism will mean a salvation for the craft.