Scrutiny, how many journalists do you need to properly scrutinise the actions of local councils, the delivery of politician promises for example and to advocate on behalf of the communities it operates within? Or is the question, how many readers/viewers/listeners do you need for any such scrutiny and advocacy to be effective?
From June 29 Rockhampton will have a digital only Morning Bulletin, 3 commercial television news broadcasts featuring local stories, commercial/community and ABC radio stations with varying amounts of local news content and continuous social media posts. How much more local news do we need, or accessible does it have to be? A printed newspaper on the breakfast table, or in the work lunch room will be the emotive response. Biloela residents perhaps even more adamant about that, considering what local news options they’ll have remaining from June 29.
Is this reaction basically you treasure things more when you are about to lose it or have lost it?
Shock Therapy
With the greatest respect to those who have lost their jobs, arguably the shock announcement that News Corp. is going to cease the print production of over 100 newspapers is what the local news industry needed to reignite local resident’s passion for it and their belief in the power it has.
“Only a crisis – actual or perceived – produces real change. When that crisis occurs, the actions that are taken depend on the ideas that are lying around. That, I believe, is our basic function: to develop alternatives to existing policies, to keep them alive and available until the politically impossible becomes the politically inevitable.” -Milton Friedman.
This is the third time I have used this quote in this column since April. The first time I questioned, how many (chess) moves ahead was big business in using this pandemic to introduce changes. Obviously, News Corp. had some ideas lying around about how to stay viable and the economic crisis that is covid-19 has led to what some may thought of as impossible to being now inevitable.
What Opportunities Are Now Available
But change doesn’t have to be in the hands of just one player. This shock (crisis), actual or perceived, regarding the cessation of printing and titles also makes possible other changes, that may before seemed impossible. Like more people, young and old, reading the paper online, another operator starting a daily paper and/or how local stories are sourced.
Despite what will be said, you can’t really expect around a half of the journalist’s that once were to produce the same number and diversity of stories. More of us need to become unpaid contributors. More of us need to scrutinise and advocate.
This is the change that can make a community stronger as our reliance on a dwindling number of others is bit by bit replaced with self-reliance in keeping those managing our money, standard of living, safety accountable and advocating for a community’s greater well-being. That will go against the grain of some, you will put people out of work. Well, good people already are out of work and more are joining them on June 26 and it appears only if Google and Facebook were to suddenly roll over will this scenario change.
Quite possible this proposed greater contributed community journalism is part of the new News Corp. business model that, like social media, encourages and in fact requires free content, but unlike social media there will (hopefully) be greater fact checking by trained journalists before it is disseminated. But it can be part of other new (non-News Corp.) local news business models. Use this shock to produce real change, that can make our communities stronger, while passions are high.
Plan How to Get Stronger Rather than Reminisce
Of course community generated local news doesn’t need to be filtered by paid journalists before it is disseminated, as we know with social media and the escalation of ‘fake news’. However this filtration process does arguably give the content the credibility we should be expecting and a more complete story giving both sides, not just one viewpoint. Better informing the reader/listener, with better scrutiny and advocacy of issues. Which contributes to making a community stronger.
How many journalists do you need to properly scrutinise the actions of local councils, the delivery of politician promises for example and to advocate on behalf of the communities it operates within? A lot. How many readers/viewers/listeners to you need for any scrutiny and advocacy to be effective? The more the better. Do we want to step up and play a more active role in each of these areas, and our community coming out stronger from the cessation crisis, or just reminisce about what was?