Alex S Jones on losing the news

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Alex S Jones on losing the news

16 Sep 2009

Speakers: Alex S Jones

Alex Jones discusses the historical role of newspapers as a profit-making industry that provides a public service in delivering particular types of high quality reporting. Jones discusses the traditional values embedded in newspaper reporting, of journalistic objectivity and ethical journalism. He argues that these values are being eroded with the rise of digital journalism, and that accuracy, fairness and significance are being increasingly replaced with speed, edge and entertainment value.

Newspapers are increasingly inclined to solve their business problems by giving people what they want rather than what they need. It is crucial to retain the oversight over the powerful. Jones takes the view that newspapers making an operating profit are those that have made cuts when previously complacency was rife. The economic downturn has catalysed the re-tooling for a digital age – meaning less profitable, smaller, and leaner.

He concludes by explaining that the only thing that can save newspapers is to provide valuable content that people will want to pay for. The values embedded in serious reporting should be sold and demonstrated to people to convince them to pay for that reporting. Ultimately, it is the public who should hold newspapers accountable for those traditional journalistic values.