Is there a place for slow journalism in our changing digital landscape?
Over the past decade the importance of social media, the internet and websites has increased the pressure put on journalists. We now have to create more frequent content, with more digital elements with much shorter deadline. News has become fast and instant in order to keep up with the demand of immediate content and news. But how has this affected slow journalism and is there still a place for it?
WHAT IS SLOW JOURNALISM?
Slow journalism is considered to be the response to the fast paced news industry that we have today. It can fit into the slow movement which includes slow food and slow travel. It can be described as giving journalists the time to write and research an article properly. With food it is seen as taking the time to get every ingredient and process right in order to appreciate the flavours and get everything perfect.
Matthew Lee, an Editor at Delayed Gratification, a slow journalism magazine said: “Slow journalism is about greater depth, accuracy and perspective; it’s about joining up the dots and understanding why news stories mattered and how they affected people’s lives. It’s about complementing a drip-feed of real-time information with something more nourishing and inspiring. For us it’s also about a passion for long-form journalism, print media and magazine production, and a dedication to independent, nonpartisan and reader-funded narrative non-fiction.”
EXAMPLES OF SLOW JOURNALISM
Delayed Gratification is an English slow journalism magazine which publishes every three months. The company look at news stories that matter but take a more in-depth, investigative look into them. Accompanied with infographics and photo features this magazine tries to offer the best quality content for its readers to help them understand the big picture as well as seeing how the story ends.
Matthew Lee said: “We wanted to make a magazine focused on non-fiction storytelling and the Slow Journalism concept just seemed obvious when we realised to our surprise that nobody else had done it yet.”
Another form of slow journalism can be seen in the independent online publication Generation Slow.
On their website they state that their mission is to “take big news stories out of the 24 hour news cycle and explore them within a slow approach to provide readers with context, narrative and meaningful analysis, often missing in the fast media landscape. Our goal is to reinstate a possibility for considered reflection.”
An example of the work being done by Generation Slow can be seen on their website. They have taken the issue of ISIS and broken it down into three distinct stages in order to make it easier to understand, whilst exploring the story in more detail. These stages are the basics, the context and the impact.
But is there a place for slow journalism in our modern day, digital, fast paced consumption society?
Ofcom’s News consumption in the UK 2014 report shows that over four in ten people (41%) use the internet or apps to consume the news. Therefore, if we are using mobile apps to track the news whilst we are on our way to work or on a lunch break then do we have time to read longer articles with more in-depth research and analysis, explaining the story? Is there an audience for slow journalism?
Delayed Gratification has been running since 2011 and has published 19 issues of the magazine to date. It has a niche market with consumers who appreciate slow journalism. But as it is a quarterly magazine the question can be asked how do they obtain a readership?
When news breaks readers will go to their preferred platform, usually one they read regularly, or one that has broken the story first. Therefore, how can Delayed Gratification, who publish three months after the events have happened keep up with today’s new digital age, and fast paced expectations?
The answer? They don’t have to so they don’t, hence why their slogan is ‘last to break the news’.
“We don’t try to keep up with this demand. We’re not trying to compete with the traditional news media. Slow journalism and fast journalism can co-exist peacefully! We hope to provoke and surprise readers, and offer perspectives on news stories they haven’t heard before. But our main goal is to create a beautiful, informative and entertaining magazine.” Matthew Lee answered.
With the advances in technology more and more people are receiving their information and news via social media platforms. News corporations and magazines use social media to share stories, get more traffic and overall grow their audience. Just because slow journalism takes more time in order to produce the final product does not mean that magazines such as Delayed Gratification cannot and do not use social media to their advantage.
“We use social media to keep in touch with our readers and we run a slow journalism blog which is very popular and gives non-readers a taste of our magazine.” Matthew Lee commented. Where social media may have affected mainstream news and the way journalists try to reach their audience, Matthew Lee says that this pressure of social media engagement has no effect on the journalism being produced by Delayed gratification.
Our changing digital landscape has affected a vast majority of our lives from catching up on TV programs online to buying Christmas presents. Setting aside time to think in depth about an issue going on in the world isn’t a part of our day to day lives. We want to know what is happening, why it is happening and how it affects us. We don’t have time to waste, so how can a magazine that publishes every three months, reporting on old stories survive when those stories have already been exhausted?
Some news companies prefer a quantity of articles over quality as more articles on a website means more hits and more hits means more money. Slow journalism doesn’t need to worry about quantity and in turn journalists then get to focus on the quality of what they are producing, thinking more about what they are writing about and the reader.
The digital landscape has been able to give writers and journalists the freedom to publish their own work online in the form of blogs and forums and slowly grown their own audience. This means that anybody interested in slow journalism can take the time that they need to produce the content for their audience, without the fear of deadlines or trying to create money.
Journalism relies a lot on the readers and audience. Not just to give them a purpose to write articles but also to fund the journalists themselves, and for a print publication such as Delayed Gratification this is fundamental.
Matthew Lee agrees saying: “The challenge isn’t generating an audience, it’s generating revenue.”
“I’d urge consumers of journalism to support the industry and spend some of their money on news organisations that do a good job. Our magazine can’t survive if people aren’t willing to pay for journalism. “
“We’ve become used to getting journalism for free and I think we’ll have to snap out of that and appreciate that quality journalism costs money, and then Slow Journalism will have a bright future.”
It has been proved that audiences and readers will pay for journalism, with examples of The Financial Times and The Sun going behind a paywall. If readers are committed enough to their publications, slow journalism or not, then it can survive.
THE FUTURE OF SLOW JOURNALISM
‘Print is dying’ is a phrase that has been tossed around for years and there are many different views on that argument. But with the demand for more content, and receiving it faster and faster every time, it begs the question is there is still a future for slow journalism?
Delayed Gratification is the main example I have used throughout and that is because it has established itself as a printed magazine. But just because print may be dying does not mean that slow journalism has to.
Slow journalism will continue to exist whether it be through print, blogs or research journals. As long as there is an interest then journalists will keep putting the time, money and effort into creating the content for the readers who demand it.
