{"id":635,"date":"2024-11-17T14:41:35","date_gmt":"2024-11-17T14:41:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/reimagining-political-journalism\/?p=635"},"modified":"2024-11-17T14:41:36","modified_gmt":"2024-11-17T14:41:36","slug":"young-journalists-call-for-transformation-in-political-reporting-stronger-youth-engagement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/reimagining-political-journalism\/2024\/11\/17\/young-journalists-call-for-transformation-in-political-reporting-stronger-youth-engagement\/","title":{"rendered":"Young journalists call for transformation in political reporting, stronger youth engagement"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The Narwhal’s Emma McIntosh discusses making political journalism more accessible to young consumers at the Reimagining Journalism Conference at Carleton University on Nov. 16, 2024. [Photo \u00a9 Natasha Baldin]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

By Nkele Martin<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As fewer young people engage with journalism, panelists at the Reimagining Political Journalism conference believe the industry needs to do better to connect with Gen Z and Millennial consumers of media and voters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFewer and fewer young people are engaging with what we do, fewer of them are engaging with politics,\u201d said Emma McIntosh, a reporter with The Narwhal<\/em>, the Canadian environment-focused online publication. \u201cThey\u2019re political people\u2026 they clearly care, they\u2019re clearly very socially aware and engaged with this stuff. They\u2019re just not doing it with us,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A not-so-optimistic consensus about the state of youth and political journalism continued across the panel. The panelists \u2014 younger Canadians themselves \u2014 alluded to the idea that the challenges stem partly from traditional newsrooms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A recurring theme is what many describe as a staffing issue. Too often, large newsrooms follow \u201ccircular\u201d narratives, recycling sources and perspectives without taking stock of new ideas emerging from young people and marginalized communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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WIRED magazine’s Evy Kwong discusses entering the news industry as a young reporter at the Reimagining Journalism Conference at Carleton University on Nov. 16, 2024. [Photo \u00a9 Natasha Baldin]<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen younger people look at mainstream media they\u2019re like, \u2018This is how old people got news,\u2019\u201d said Evy Kwong, associate director at the U.S-based print and online magazine WIRED<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy biggest gripe is that we get the same panelists, same columnists, and it\u2019s like they have no expiry date,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McIntosh said that frequently, young people don\u2019t see issues relevant to them in news coverage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Harrison Lowman, managing editor of The Hub, highlights the importance of engaging young people in political journalism at the Reimagining Journalism Conference at Carleton University on Nov. 16, 2024. [Photo \u00a9 Natasha Baldin]<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cWe\u2019re writing for a world that doesn\u2019t exist,\u201d she said, \u201cThey (young people) are like, \u2018Why should I care who the new chief of staff is when I can\u2019t afford to buy groceries?\u2019\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Multiple panellists agreed that political jargon and the elitist assumption that readers will inherently understand historical tidbits with no context is an aspect of coverage that leaves young people disconnected and likely to turn to other forms of media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Harrison Lowman, managing editor of The Hub<\/em> \u2014 a Canadian online publication with a broadly conservative perspective and a mission statement rejecting government support for news organizations \u2014 argued that journalists need to do more to effectively cover politicians who are reducing access for journalists. He named federal Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre and Ontario Premier Doug Ford as examples of politicians who limit their media availability and will directly challenge journalists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Toronto Star reporter Mark Ramzy discusses navigating political journalism as a young reporter at the Reimagining Journalism Conference at Carleton University on Nov. 16, 2024. [Photo \u00a9 Natasha Baldin]<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDeal with it. Figure it out, figure workarounds, how to cover them,\u201d he said. \u201cLet\u2019s have a reality check here, and be serious and meet these challenges head-on.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These and other industry shortcomings brought up by panelists \u2014 and new challenges faced in reporting on politics \u2014 have created a disconnect between journalism and youth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If not dealt with, it will have grave consequences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re seeing a slow erosion (of democracy) and it\u2019ll continue, it\u2019ll accelerate,\u201d said McIntosh. \u201cIf we\u2019re not getting young people now in the news ecosystem, there will not be old people who are in the news ecosystem.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mark Ramzy, a political reporter in the Toronto Star<\/em>\u2019s Ottawa Bureau, said young adults he has spoken to have joked about revoking the voting rights of those who disagree with them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI do worry about. If we don\u2019t find these solutions, then we are going towards a society that is increasingly more partisan, increasingly hates one another over things just because they are unable to have dialogue,\u201d he said.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Increased skepticism and technological advances have made journalistic work \u2014 once a mystery to the public \u2014 more transparent, and young people aren\u2019t satisfied with what they see, the panelists noted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe jig is up,\u201d said McIntosh. \u201cPeople are watching us throw softballs at press conferences. They see it, why would they trust us? Young people are like, \u2018What are you doing?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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CBC Indigenous journalist Brett Forester moderates a panel on how to engage younger generations of news consumers in political journalism at the Reimagining Journalism Conference at Carleton University on Nov. 16, 2024. [Photo \u00a9 Natasha Baldin]<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s this transformation that needs to happen,\u201d said Kwong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the Q&A session, panelists took turns offering solutions to problematic state of political journalism as it relates to youth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among them were:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022  increasing coverage of the on-the-ground community conversation;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 breaking down hard-to-understand ideas about politics and governance in language that youth understand;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 listening to and empowering young journalists;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 doing more to find out and cover what young people are interested in;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 engaging young news consumers directly by using the word \u201cYou\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The question-and-answer session \u2014 which lasted more than 20 minutes \u2014 was cut short due to time constraints, with many audience members still waiting to pose a question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As other panels have illustrated, the challenge of increasing the relevance of politics to young people \u2014 and news coverage of elections, policy debates and governance issues \u2014 is a complex issue. But there was a sharper focus on the fact that prospective solutions are likely to emerge from younger journalists.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Nkele Martin As fewer young people engage with journalism, panelists at the Reimagining Political Journalism conference believe the industry needs to do better to connect with Gen Z and Millennial consumers of media and voters. \u201cFewer and fewer young people are engaging with what we do, fewer of them are engaging with politics,\u201d said … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":559,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-635","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\/635","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\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/reimagining-political-journalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=635"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/reimagining-political-journalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/635\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":644,"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/reimagining-political-journalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/635\/revisions\/644"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/reimagining-political-journalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/559"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/reimagining-political-journalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/reimagining-political-journalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/reimagining-political-journalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}