So I read this Washington Post piece that reports that when you ask Americans about “made up news” they tend to say all sorts of things. It could mean” stories I don’t like, stories that are critical of a person I like, stories that have a factual error, stories that are fundamentally wrong, or stories made up out of whole cloth by pranksters or political propagandists”.
Yet, “made up news” is a subject that is quite important to the American people, more so than terrorism, illegal immigration, racism or sexism, according to a new Pew Research Center study. The study shows that broad agreement that misinformation is greatly impacting Americans’ confidence in government institutions and in each.
It is for this reason that I plan to do my part. While the course I teach at Columbia University (Multiplatform Design & Storytelling) has never had a specific component about journalistic ethics as such—only discussions about ethical decisions made when practicing visual journalism, for example—I have decided to incorporate a short discussion of “fake news” in the introductory lecture when I teach the class next. I believe student journalists need to become aware of the impact they may have, and how the public views what they do.
Taxi and Uber drivers ask
For the past six months or so I notice that if I engage in conversation with a taxi or Uber driver and they ask what I do, and when I say that I teach journalism, the next question from the driver, as I see his eyes on the rearview mirror, is: What do you think of fake news?
Well, I have not thought much about it, except that I know that ethical journalists—who represent the vast majority of those that I work with globally—do not engage in anything but honest, ethical and truthful storytelling.
But that is not enough. The most inquisitive drivers—and also people I meet at airport lounges and cocktail parties—will go further to assert that they no longer trust journalists.
This is alarming, indeed.
For journalists, the situation is as complicated and uncertain as it may be for those Boeing executives dealing with the fall out from the disastrous performance of its 737 Max jet, which, of course, is a matter involving 300 deaths in two almost back to back air disasters involving the same model aircraft). We as a profession need to do a lot of soul searching and damage control when the public distrusts us.
It begins with what every individual journalist does.How we make sure that nothing we report is anything but the truth as we know it.I imagine that it will take years for Boeing to repair its image.The same for journalists.
When we have leaders at the top who emphasize “fake news” and put all journalists in the same basket, simply because they may not like what the legitimate press says about them, then you are likely to have many who will believe those leaders.
Tough assignment for journalists to fight this. But not impossible.
I will do my part by making sure that the students in my class get the lesson.
Mario’s speaking engagements
Here are places where I will be taking the message of mobile storytelling in the weeks ahead:
June 12, NEC Media City, Bergen, Norway, Storytelling workshop for Editors
June 13, Fortellingens kraft 2019, Bergen, Norway, Long form Mobile Storytelling for Writers
July 11, Florida Media Conference, St. Petersburg, FL, Keynote for editors: The mobile first newspaper strategy.
Mario’s weekend rituals…..
Monocle interviews me about what I do on a typical weekend (is there such a thing? Not for someone like me who is seldom in the same location twice. But I gave it my best shot, for what may come as a normal weekend, when I am home in New York! Enjoy.
https://monocle.com/minute/2019/04/27/
Pre-order The Story
The newspaper remains the most powerful source of storytelling on the planet. But technology threatens its very existence. To survive, the Editor must transform, adapt, and manage the newsroom in a new way. Find out how, pre-orderThe Story by Mario Garcia, chief strategist for the redesign of over 700 newspapers around the world.
Order here:
https://thaneandprose.com/shop-the-bookstore?olsPage=products%2Fthe-story
An interview of interest
http://www.itertranslations.com/blog/2019/3/11/fd60ybflpvlqrgrpdp5ida5rq0c3sp
TheMarioBlog post #3069