THERE WAS a danger the digital revolution was creating a “twin track” society where those without access to technology felt increasingly cut off from democratic society, a conference on the future of the media heard yesterday.
Bob Collins, chair of the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland and former director general of RTÉ, said our relationship with public services and the State was increasingly taking place through the internet.
He warned that we needed to address the wealth and class divide that cut off significant parts of society from accessing the kind of information they needed to fully participate in a democracy.
Mr Collins was speaking at the Cleraun media conference – in association with the Carnegie UK Trust – on standards, choice and access in the news media.
He compared the emergence of new media with the disruption and unease caused by the arrival of television in Ireland 50 years ago. “Half a century on, some of the changes facing the media are met with a similar sense of apprehension – that it is all threat and disruption,” he said.
However, Mr Collins said we should remember that TV was nowhere near as destructive as many people feared it would be and that some traditional media, such as radio, went on to become even stronger than they had been.
Irish Timeseditor Kevin O'Sullivan said the key to the survival of newspapers in the digital age was was to embrace the possibilities offered by new media, while retaining core values such as integrity, fairness and independence. "I believe our content will stand out if we remain faithful to our approach and creative intuition – provided we know our customers like never before," he said.
“What’s more, we can build on trust among that readership. They value our prioritising of quality journalism, whether that is news, analysis, comment, or simply good writing.”
He said he was in favour of the principle of charging for quality content, and said the “meter model” – based on frequency of readership – was one way of doing this. On a broader level, he said social media provided an opportunity for politicians to re-engage with citizens and to underline the value of our democratic system.
He said he supported calls for a “2016 Proclamation”, which could inspire a new generation to forge a better future informed by a re-evaluation of the content and consequences of the 1916 Proclamation.
Despite the advances in technology, Blair Jenkins, former director of broadcasting at Scottish Television, said a major issue facing journalism today was trust.
He said a profession that was based on trust needed to be proud and protective of its ethical and editorial standards, and to be built on foundations of integrity and experience. Events such as the hacking scandal at the News of the Worldand media coverage of the lead-up to the 2003 war in Iraq had damaged this.
“In the end, integrity is not an app. There’s nothing you can click on and download to make something trustworthy and fair and accurate. It’s not in the software. It has to be in the ethical DNA of any decent news organisation and its journalists,” he said.
Given the changing face of the media, Mr Jenkins said there was a need to test new models for how quality journalism could be delivered in the digital age.
In Ireland and the UK, he said, civil society bodies may need to become more directly involved in the news media as partners and investors.
“This has to be considered carefully to ensure that any such investment is appropriately directed and is not just buying influence,” he added.
