Young news consumers need tools to cut through the ‘information swamp’ – NMC CEO
The News Media remain a cornerstone of our ability to make sense of the world. While there are significant challenges to the sector, particularly from disruptive technologies, such as AI, professional journalism has every chance of becoming more important in societies.
That was the upbeat message from a wide-ranging panel intervention by the News Media Coalition’s Chief Executive Andrew Moger at a high-level conference organised by the Council of Europe and the Latvian government.
Moger said governments, civic society and the media industry itself had big roles to play in promoting the role of on-the-ground reporters, news photographers and video journalists in acting as the eyes and ears of citizens who struggle to distinguish fact from internet fiction.
In particular, he set out a key requirement:
‘The ability of professional journalists, including reporters, news photographers and video journalists to witness events of public interest and to provide objective accounts must be safeguarded from control and censorship. It provides opportunities for social change, creates communities of shared interest and informs citizens including the young about real-world events.’
It was, he said, a daily struggle for newsrooms to assign newsgathers to staged events of news and public interest because on limitations imposed by organisers, such as in the sport and political spheres, sometimes involving requirements to give up copyright ownership and often involving restrictions on video journalism.
He was speaking at the two-day conference in Riga, Latvia as part of the country’s Council of Europe presidency.
The theme was Safeguarding Journalism and the conference was used to launch a five-year programme on the Safety of Journalists.
