Jeff Jarvis optimistic about the future of world journalism

Posted by Helena Humphrey on October 30, 2009 at 5:23 PM

American journalist and professor at the City University of New York, Jeff Jarvis, has voiced his opinions on the future of journalism at the 'Is World Journalism in Crisis?' event at Coventry University on Wednesday. Supporting progress and development within the industry, Jarvis implored journalists to "support the means for entrepreneurial journalism," as opposed to trying to protect old models, warning that in doing so, journalists risk "hurting new sprouts that grow".

Jarvis also mentioned that he was pleased that the title of the conference, "Is World Journalism in Crisis" posed a question. He answered this question by stating firmly that he did not believe the industry to be in trouble. He did insist however, that in order to support new models state intervention should be avoided at all costs, describing government support for journalism as "dangerous".

Citing research carried out by the CUNY "New business models for news" project, Jarvis said news organisations will again cover beat and investigative reporting. He was also optimistic for the growth of hyperlocalised models in the UK and dismissed the idea that investigative journalism would die with newspapers as merely a misconception, stating; "I don't know that I buy that. I think that investigative journalism has a market."

He also explained that one of the new roles of journalists is as educators and argued that students participating in local news projects were helping citizens learn important skills in journalism. An educator himself, Jarvis' ideas often attract wide spread attention and therefore his recommendation that the BBC should share all its content- not just with media producers but to all: "I think the BBC should give it to anyone who wants it. BBC should be linking to journalism at source and it doesn't do enough of that", was one particularly interesting suggestion.

Source: Journalism.co.uk