{"id":630,"date":"2024-11-17T00:10:41","date_gmt":"2024-11-17T00:10:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/reimagining-political-journalism\/?p=630"},"modified":"2024-11-17T00:10:42","modified_gmt":"2024-11-17T00:10:42","slug":"panelists-identify-urgent-need-for-journalists-to-rebuild-trust-reconnect-with-communities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/reimagining-political-journalism\/2024\/11\/17\/panelists-identify-urgent-need-for-journalists-to-rebuild-trust-reconnect-with-communities\/","title":{"rendered":"Panelists identify urgent need for journalists to rebuild trust, reconnect with communities"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Tamara Merritt<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Themes of trust, audience engagement, and a fractured media landscape emerged during a panel discussion Saturday about the challenge of improving political journalism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moderated by Lucy van Oldenbarneveld, former news anchor for CBC Ottawa, five panelists took on the challenge of dissecting the question: \u201cHow do we make political coverage stronger and more relevant to people who are disengaged?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The panelists were Press Progress reporter Luke Lebrun, The Hill Times columnist Erica Ifill, POLITICO parliamentary reporter Mickey Djuric, Toronto Star<\/em> politics writer Raisa Patel and Karyn Pugliese, former APTN, CBC, Canada\u2019s National Observer and Canadaland journalist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Karyn Pugliese discusses how to make political coverage stronger during a panel discussion at the Reimagining Political Journalism conference at Carleton University on Nov. 16, 2024. [Photo \u00a9 Nkele Martin]<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Ifill noted that journalism is consumed in different ways by different genders and generations. And different platforms appeal to different emotions, she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cVoting,\u201d Ifill added, \u201cis not an intellectual endeavour. It is an emotional one.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lebrun tackled the question of relevance through an economic lens. As journalism has evolved through the years it is rapidly transforming from ad-based models, which appeal to a mass audience, to a proliferation of publications focused on niche issues, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Mickey Djuric discusses the flaws of political coverage during a panel discussion at the Reimagining Political Journalism conference at Carleton University on Nov. 16, 2024. [Photo \u00a9 Nkele Martin]<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Different outlets employ different strategies of engagement, Lebrun noted, highlighting the California online publication The Oakland Side as an organization that supports itself by holding in-person meetings to crowd-source community issues and to share stories directly from the very public journalists are seeking to serve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The panel\u2019s main theme arose when Patel touched on the topic of trust, an issue that journalists have struggled with for decades. She suggested that smaller, niche and independent publications now have a better chance at gaining audience trust than larger, traditional legacy media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Patel said trust is hard to come by. \u201cBuilding trust, getting people to talk to you, getting people to be in your stories and tell a story\u2026I almost wonder if we need to reform the entire industry,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese models, these systems, these structures that have worked for so long just aren\u2019t working anymore,\u201d she added. \u201cThe key to relevance is revolution.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Toronto Star journalist Raisa Patel discusses how to make political journalism more relevant to people during a panel discussion at the Reimagining Political Journalism conference at Carleton University on Nov. 16, 2024. [Photo \u00a9 Nkele Martin]<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The lack of trust in legacy news media was personified by one panel member herself. \u201cI don\u2019t trust news either,\u201d Ifill said, laughing. Ifill, who is also a podcast host, defined her purpose as a journalist as giving \u201cfact-based opinion that represents marginalized communities.\u201d But the majority of news organizations have not achieved this goal, she said. \u201cI think news organizations have broken the public\u2019s trust,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lebrun suggested a more robust embrace of transparency as a solution to the lack of trust. Lebrun referenced an initiative called The Trust Project. <\/em>It is a list developed to enhance the credibility and trustworthiness of a news website. The checklist includes using author bios that describe the journalist\u2019s expertise in the byline and placing the address of the news organization on its website to act as a legitimizing factor. The aim is to allow individuals a look behind the curtain regarding the motivation of a story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Press Progress reporter Luke Lebrun discusses how to make political coverage stronger during a panel discussion at the Reimagining Political Journalism conference at Carleton University on Nov. 16, 2024. [Photo \u00a9 Nkele Martin]<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Intertwined with this dilemma of trust is the theme of audience engagement. \u201cWe need to figure out how we reconnect with our audience and recreate community with them,\u201d Pugliese said. You need to \u201cbuild those connections on the ground with communities.\u201d Once you build a relationship with the community you are reporting on a relationship of trust will inevitably be built \u201cbecause they know the face behind the article.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A shift in attitudes towards the audience may also be a key in regaining trust. \u201cDon\u2019t have contempt for the audience,\u201d said Pugliese. As journalists, she added, \u201cwe forget there\u2019s a public out there.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A key issue with trust, Pugliese iterates is how the news is viewed as a product and not as a service. \u201cWe have to be more accessible,\u201d she said, suggesting an approach more akin to community journalism, reporting from the ground up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Erica Ifill discusses the weaknesses in political journalism’s ability to be relevant during a panel discussion at the Reimagining Political Journalism conference at Carleton University on Nov. 16, 2024. [Photo \u00a9 Nkele Martin]<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

During the post-panel Q&A, fired-up attendee said the conference was failing to really reimagine what political journalism should be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf we are reimagining, then we must understand that the vast majority of people are considered less than human, are in fact excluded from democracy and that they are aspiring not only to be human, but to invent what it means to be human.\u201d His heartfelt plea was met with applause.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While trust and community building took up most of the panel\u2019s discussion, another audience member brought up a concept she said had been missing from the conversation: courage. \u201cWe are talking about trust, but I think you know what to do,\u201d she said. \u201cI just think there is a lack of courage right now and I think that\u2019s what we have to grapple with.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Tamara Merritt Themes of trust, audience engagement, and a fractured media landscape emerged during a panel discussion Saturday about the challenge of improving political journalism. Moderated by Lucy van Oldenbarneveld, former news anchor for CBC Ottawa, five panelists took on the challenge of dissecting the question: \u201cHow do we make political coverage stronger and … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":580,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-630","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","latest_post"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/reimagining-political-journalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/630","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/reimagining-political-journalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/reimagining-political-journalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/reimagining-political-journalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/reimagining-political-journalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=630"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/reimagining-political-journalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/630\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":634,"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/reimagining-political-journalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/630\/revisions\/634"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/reimagining-political-journalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/reimagining-political-journalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/reimagining-political-journalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/reimagining-political-journalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}