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This week's arguments about the role media have focussed on the treatment of Dan Andrews, but that isn't what this is really about. The concern coming through from citizens is about a deep sense that the media is failing them, a concern that has been building for years.
Not just failing them, but abandoning them. The sense from journalists that somehow journalism exists separately from the people who consume it and whom it is meant to benefit, and that those people have no right to a view on how it is undertaken
Is some of the criticism unfair and abusive? Yes, but what comes through again & again as journalists respond is how often they will highlight the poor or abusive criticism & totally ignore the thoughtful & informed comments. It is a bad faith way to respond and people see it.
Journalism exists at the intercises of power, money & public opinion & over the last decade the balance between them has shifted drastically, inc in terms of the r'ship with the public. This week has shown that many journalists still resist this change & the scrutiny it brings
But here's the thing. It isn't about individual journalists, most of whom are just trying to do a job. It's about deeper structures & norms within the industry, the role of financial & political power. The professional presumptions challenged by changes wrought by digitisation.
Having been making these points for 20 years, having written articles and even book/s about it, and having seen well-meaning ppl on social media consistently dismissed as trolls and twitterati and other abusive terms, I'm not incredibly hopeful that much will change.
But it must.
But it must.
Journalism can never be about pleasing an audience, per se. But nor can it be about acting as if audiences had no right to criticise. If the most engaged members of your audience feel abandoned, then recognise that & do something about it. They aren't trolling; they are pleading.
Interesting responses, including in DMs, and from some journalists as well, and that's great, so thank you. To those, like Isobel Roe who have responded by blocking me and others, I gotta say, it seems a bit ott. Still, we all get to choose who we block and who we don't...
