How Journalists Can Remain Relevant In A Changing Environment

The recent advances in technology, which now enable people to easily capture and share details about events happening around them and also to discuss their different opinions on issues affecting them through social media, have made people begin to think that maybe there will come a time when journalists will be less needed in our communities. Being a lover of journalism, I sat down with veteran journalist Richard Downie, who worked with the British Broadcasting Corporation before joining the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington DC, to find out if our profession still had a future.

Aaron: How can journalists cover an issue in a manner that can make people care about it?

Richard: In this era where there is seemingly a news fatigue, the best way to tell the story is to find a compelling narrative in the eyes of someone who is personally affected by that human interest story. Though very old, the human interest angle still remains the best way of telling a story.

Aaron: In telling that human interest story, how do you avoid making the people who are part of that story come out merely as ‘subjects’?

Richard: It is really a very difficult task. It means treating your subjects with a lot of sensitivity.  You need to allow them to speak for themselves and not insert your opinion in their narrative. Then at the end of the day, you need to find a way of linking the narrative of the people you are interviewing to the broader story affecting the community around them. You need to lay out the big picture by drawing out the wider implications of the experience being shared.

Aaron: We are living in a deeply divided world by conflicts of opinions. How does a journalist ensure that no voice is left unheard?

Richard: It is always difficult to cover all the angles. Despite that, journalist have the responsibility to do their best to reach out to the broadest network possible so that they can talk to as many people as possible from all the angles of the story.  It is important to try and paint the most complete story possible.  It is also important to supplement what is heard by reading all the available documents.

Aaron: What about when you are working in an environment where the lives of the sources might even be in danger, how do you ensure their safety?

Richard: Preparing beforehand is very important. You need to establish clearly what sort of information you will seek and how to handle it. Having someone you can trust on the ground to guide you is always very useful. Make sure the people you are interviewing are comfortable. Do not press them too hard unnecessarily.

Aaron: How does the journalist convince the newsroom that the story is worth pursuing?

Richard: The job of telling the story begins in the newsroom. You have to convince your news editor why the story you want to tell matters. Thus, it is very important to have your arguments well lined up. You need to be clear in your own mind as to why the story matters. You really have to be good at perfecting a sales pitch to give you a competitive advantage over your professional rivals. In your sales pitch, you have to address the commercial angle that the paper will sell a lot as well as the fact that it is a human interest story. In order to convince your editors best, you need to believe in your own story.

Aaron: In this very competitive space where information is being shared easily, in order to draw an audience, journalists tend to embellish the truth in order to create that bit of drama or that juicy story. How can you avoid falling into that trap as a journalist?

Richard:  Well, getting scoops and exclusives is the lifeblood of any journalist. That is what compelled me to enter the field. That said, you must still remain aware of the fact that you have professional standards to uphold. Your value as a journalist will diminish very quickly if you are found to be exaggerating your stories.

Aaron: In this fast-paced, evolving, interconnected world with social media, will journalists still remain as the go-to persons for news?

Richard: I would tell the journalists: Don’t worry, you will still remain relevant even in future. In fact, their role is now more important than ever before. The real skill of the journalist is not just to get the information, but to make sense out of it. Now that we are awash with social media, there is a higher demand than ever before for someone to sift through and present it in a way that makes sense.