I like to imagine the holy mountain of journalism — a place from which a small group of reporters and editors can watch other people, choose stories and then disseminate them. This concept is important in figuring out the topic. As journalists we spend too much time thinking about what are the coolest stories, with no clue to our readers’ real interests.
One day a fellow journalist told me that every newspaper is like a monarchy. Yes, journalism is an authoritarian elite, but now I’m pretty sure we are entering a more democratic process, opening up newsrooms, creating new tools, trying different ways to produce and distribute content. At the same time, this transition is a way to point out journalism’s real goal: to dig into the mess and then write a story.
But speaking of tools, Hearken is a great resource for every newsroom. Our class at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism had the chance to talk with Julia Haslanger of Hearken. She explained two crucial things about the Chicago-based platform: Hearken gives newsrooms access to questions from the reader and, basically, they can respond to people’s curiosity.
Here my brief summary:
Hey, reporter, you can know before you go if an idea will be OK. So you can save time.
You can reach and involve more people. That is a benefit to the media.
During the class we considered another interesting topic: the problem of inclusion in the newsroom. Must the newsroom look like the society it tries to express? I don’t think so (obvious answer). So with Hearken you can involve more different people and craft stories to their tastes. At the same time, the audience will be involved throughout the process of creating a story. The final outcome will be holy, in a different way.
Bonus:
In the 1960’s, Pier Paolo Pasolini, one of the most influential writers and directors in Italy, decided to travel across the country asking people questions about sex. Here the full doc with English subtitles.
