Forget the myth of the good old days. To Mark Little, we’re living in a golden age.

Little was once a foreign correspondent tied to a satellite dish. He says what he’s seeing now from Syria, from people on the ground, is “much more authentic.”

Little embraces social media. He has a three-pronged approach: discover, validate and deliver.

But it’s not enough to rely on technology and algorithms. Little says journalists are needed to sort through the noise.

“We don’t want to replace journalists, we want to help them and empower them,” Little says.

With Storyful, Little has worked with a number of media companies, including The Economist and The New York Times. His company helps them harness the power of social media.

The key, he says, is to ensure they have content they can trust.

Little says it’s not necessary to have a technical background. But it does require a big shift in what journalists do and how they approach it.

“We’re going to have to become far more humble,” he says.

Journalists need to engage with their audience and realize they don’t own the content, he says.

Mark Little spoke at the 19th World Editors Forum in Kiev, Ukraine. For more reports from the event visit the Kiev 2012 blog.