A famous line from the 1942 movie Casablanca is a good description for the limited outlook of our news media: “Round up the usual suspects”.
No, I am not suggesting that journalists are as duplicitous as Vichy French police prefect Captain Louis Renault, even if he used the phrase to throw his colleagues off the scent (after witnessing Humphrey Bogart’s character shoot a Nazi). Rather, the phrase is a useful way of describing the relatively narrow range of voices we see and hear from our news outlets.
There is a predictability about the sources and the way they are depicted. This is no more so than in the range of opinion writers we see in our newspapers and whose views are replicated on associated digital platforms.
The vast majority are journalists, former journalists, and people with past (or present) associations with the political process. Don’t get me wrong: They make useful contributions to public discourse, but they fall well short of the Habermasian ideal of the public sphere.
Jürgen Habermas had an idealised view that everyone could participate as equals in rational discussion in pursuit of truth and the public good. However, he knew the reality was significantly more limited. That should not stop us, however, for seeking an ever-widening public sphere.
For that reason, I was heartened to see Stuff Digital editor-in-chief Keith Lynch’s call for new contributors to the Stuff platform. Last week he launched a competition of sorts. Its aim is to add different voices to the Stuff conversation. It is a mission I applaud.
Initial impressions – or should that be headlines – can be misleading. His announcement appeared under the heading ‘Are you the next Matthew Hooton or Verity Johnson? Well then tell us’. Beneath the headline he was quoted saying: “We are looking for the next Andrea Vance, Verity Johnson or Matthew Hooton and we don’t mind where they come from.” I assumed he was simply looking for a new political columnist, but I was selling him short.
In fact, he has an open mind about what the successful applicants will produce…and how.
When I spoke to him, I betrayed my print prejudices by talking about ‘a columnist’ but was quickly corrected. He talked about an “open opportunity” that may be text, audio, video, cartooning or any other innovative format that might be sitting out there waiting to be used. He says the possible subject focus will be equally wide.
Keith Lynch and his team are reacting to challenges faced by media in many countries: The rise of content producers (individuals or groups producing news and information on their own terms and distributed through various digital channels), the decline in search and social media link-backs, and the rise of AI summaries. News happenings are no longer a sufficient drawcard that will see users hot-footing it to mainstream news sites.
Media organisations, including Stuff, are being forced to re-evaluate their relationships with the public, and the nature and practices of their craft. They are seeking new forms of engagement, and this latest initiative is part of that process.
Around the world newsrooms are experimenting. Some, for example, are repurposing some of their journalists to operate like the independent content creators who are proving increasingly attractive to audiences. The journalists display more of their own persona and use the multi-media approaches of their independent counterparts (while continuing to observe their newsrooms’ codes of conduct). Other news organisations are training communities to write their own stories, which are then published and broadcast on news platforms. There are also efforts to take news into the social media environment in new ways that engage with younger audiences who will not directly access news sites.
The key word is participation, and Keith Lynch knows that.
It is evident in the selection process he has put in place to find the new voices. First, there is the direct appeal to possible contenders who are invited to contact him directly. His email address is included. He has set an unusually long period for submissions to be made – eight weeks – which will allow the offer to percolate through communities. He will put together an ‘expert panel’ to choose the best eight entries, and the Stuff audience will get an opportunity – along with Lynch and columnist Verity Johnson – to choose a final three contributors.
The successful contributors will be paid, but must also abide by Stuff editorial standards.
Judging by the strong initial response, the initiative has struck a chord.
The selection process will need to be rigorous. The proposal could be seen as an open door for those with hidden agendas, and some may see AI as a means to turn their mediocrity into masterpieces. Clearly, there will need to be filtering processes even before creativity, originality, and ability are considered. Then will come the potentially controversial decision on what sort of voices should be heard.
Lynch appears to be aware of all of these potential dangers and doesn’t shy away from acknowledging he has responsibility for dealing with them.
He will not, however, be able to deal with the inevitable conflation of this proposal and the announcement by Stuff last week of further redundancies. I can see the social media posts now: “Stuff is replacing its staff with volunteers”.
The matters are, in reality, unconnected. Three new contributors to Stuff Digital will not substitute for regional reporting roles that are about to be lost or the staff lost from Lynch’s own newsroom at Stuff Digital. Both matters, however, attest to the broad reach of challenges facing the industry.
Last week’s redundancy announcement was reported with commendable frankness by Stewart Sowman-Lund in The Post. He quoted an unnamed staff member as saying they felt the company would eventually produce only three newspapers – The Post, The Press, and the Waikato Times. In other words, all its regional titles would close.
Regional titles are under pressure across the industry. Last week the merger was announced of the Greymouth Star and Hokitika Guardian which are partly-owned by Otago Daily Times publisher Allied Press, If one assumes that NZME’s regional titles are no better placed financially than their counterparts, we face the prospect of a massive deterioration in coverage of regional New Zealand.
So I ask, as I did a fortnight ago: Where are the election policies that will help this country retain viable independent journalism?
Initiatives such as those being pursued by Keith Lynch will enhance what is offered to New Zealanders but it will be as nothing if the journalistic foundations of our news media become less and less sustainable and news platforms disappear. Yes, the news media must help themselves by changing their journalism to meet the needs and aspirations of all New Zealanders, but they cannot do it unaided.
It is time for our news media to act as one, and demand actions by the incoming government that will help this country retain viable independent journalism. Democracy demands no less.
