What your media think piece is missing

The role of audience in shaping the future of journalism

Quality journalism can feel like an endangered species, or at least one that’s hard to find in today’s dense jungle of content. Its purveyors, “the media,” have long grappled with deteriorating economics and a polarized public that trusts it less each year.

Surprising election results and early faceoffs with the Trump administration have prompted the revival of an old standby: think pieces on the media, for the media, by the media.

Some of these think pieces have failed to identify the underlying challenges facing journalism, and have instead prescribed incremental product changes rooted in traditional media assumptions or focused solely on easy-to-critique elements of the problem, such as fake news.

The best of these media think pieces seek to harness the current challenges and the broader public’s rekindled concern for them, and to reframe the present battlefield into a frontier of opportunity for journalism.

Lydia Polgreen, editor-in-chief of The Huffington Post, captured this sentiment well in a panel discussion at Harvard on Jan. 31:

It wasn’t that long ago that the group of us sitting here would have been here to talk about the death of the business model and what we were going to do about that. But we’re refocused again on some very, very fundamental questions about the future, the very essence of journalism, and the future of a democracy with journalism at its center.

This refocusing on “the very essence of journalism” has led to some thoughtful think pieces that have deconstructed the current situation, grappled with complexity, described the challenges journalists face, and recommended tactics for journalists to overcome, and even thrive amid, the current challenges.

I support this introspection and share both the optimism and sense of urgency these pieces describe. The best of this genre, including those referenced above, are foundational resources for understanding the current landscape.

But for all their self-reflection and re-articulation of the essence and role of journalism, these media think pieces frequently miss a mass of characters essential to the relevance and sustainability of journalism: the public.

It is the public for whom the idealistic journalist provides information and performs her watchdog role. It is the public who, with an assist from personalized algorithmic feeds, determines which content breaks through the noise. And it is the public who, directly or indirectly, pays for that content.

So when “the media” is rethinking the essence and the role of journalism, shouldn’t the public get a say?

To their credit, venerable media organizations are increasingly focusing their company strategies and product innovations on the needs and expectations of their audience. WNYC’s “On the Media” podcast signaled a re-imagining of journalistic standards of neutrality and objectivity by asking listeners for their input on the matter.

The decidedly mixed responses underscore the challenge of creating products that primarily serve an audience, rather than conform to convention. This the central challenge for journalism, and facing it begins with understanding the audience.

Media think pieces reflect the idyllic, insider language of journalism schools and editorial board meetings, which I recall fondly from my days as a student journalist and editor. But this is not the language or mindset of the broader public.

Whereas the insider thinks and writes of “journalism,” the public sees and experiences “the news” and “the media.” For members of the public, what is “the news” and who is “the media,” anyway?

An individual’s unspoken, unconscious answers to this question influence the content she consumes, the sources she trusts, the information she believes and shares, and the way she views herself and her world. These answers, in turn, determine the relevance and sustainability of content — or, as Polgreen said, “the very essence of journalism, and the future of a democracy with journalism at its center.”

It is these answers that your media think piece is missing, and it is these answers that I seek.

In the coming weeks, I will partner with 747 Insights to begin to uncover these answers for a diverse group of “digital natives” who are willing to share and discuss their media consumption habits and attitudes.

I have an opinion on the role and the future of journalism, but my goal isn’t to create a “correct” definition or vision of that future. Rather, it is to listen, to understand, and to describe how (and whether) this small but diverse subset of the public perceives the role and the future of journalism.

I look forward to sharing the findings with the hopes of giving voice to consumers whose needs, choices, and habits will shape the future of journalism, the news, and the media.

Matt Gamber is an experienced strategist and the former editor-in-chief of Notre Dame’s daily student newspaper. With the Boston Consulting Group, he has worked with technology and media companies to conduct consumer research and develop and launch new products. He is currently an MBA student at Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management.