Rusbridger's Mutualized News

Posted by Nestor Bailly on October 20, 2009 at 8:45 PM

Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger's recent encounter with prior restraint and legal gagging has reinforced his belief in 'mutualized' news, he writes at the Columbia Journalism Review.

Rusbridger seems to claim that uproar over the gag transmitted over Twitter forced the Trifagura lawyers at Carter-Ruck to drop the ban. He is obviously grateful for this, and uses it as an example of the 'mutualized' newspaper:

"Our readers have become part of what we do. They write commentaries for our Comment is Free site--they have helped with investigations into tax avoidance and police brutality. They form communities around individual reporters and issues, lending a hand with research and ideas, bringing us up short when we get things wrong. They have collaborated on big projects needing resources beyond our scope. We have done things that would have been impossible without them."

Rusbridger's term for audience participation is not out of line with current industry trends, not with his own paper's business model. Although the Guardian is currently reporting millions of pounds of losses, it is backed by the Scott Trust, which owns several profitable businesses thus in effect underwriting the Guardian's journalism.

"In the end we have to confront the question of how we subsidize something society needs and where there is evident market failure. For the first time since the Enlightenment, communities are faced with the prospect of living without verifiable sources of news," Rusbridger warns. "This feels like some kind of emergency, and it is not clear to me that our legislators recognize that. The first instinct of journalists is to reject any kind of subsidy. I can well believe that instinct is more pronounced in the U.S. than in Europe. But print is declining faster than digital--particularly in a recession--can compensate for. There are things that societies need--including systematic coverage of public authorities--that new digital initiatives cannot yet adequately provide."

Rusbridger is optimistic about the suggestions of the recent Downie and Schudson report on 'The Reconstruction of American Journalism' (we will report on that tomorrow), and believes "that in the case of Trafigura, Twitter achieved something important for English law. There is much to be excited about. But we may all need a little help along the way."

Source: Columbia Journalism Review