Podcast Club ONLINE: How Journalism Is Failing Our Democracy and How to Fix It
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Tom Rosensteil, a journalist, media critic, and professor, is the co-author of a 2001 book that both became and still remains the seminal textbook for journalism students, The Elements of Journalism. So it might seem surprising that Rosenstiel now believes that journalism today no longer serves its audience and needs to change. In fact, he sees it as one of the major factors contributing to the weakening of our democracy. The root of its failure, he asserts, is intellectual, not simply financial or technological. Faith in news outlets has dwindled, news deserts are expanding, and audiences are turning away from alarmist, partisan, and fragmented coverage. In this week's podcast, The Commonwealth Club of California, with moderator Neil Chase, Rosenstiel discusses how journalism has evolved over time and why he thinks journalism today is contributing to the erosion of our democracy. He also shares his framework for rebuilding a press that is more useful, trustworthy, and collaborative with the communities it serves. Rosenstiel wants journalism to empower citizens, instead of alienate them, and to ensure democracy’s survival in the twenty-first century.
Rosenstiel is a Professor of the Practice and the Eleanor Merrill Scholar on the Future of Journalism at the University of Maryland’s Philip Merrill College of Journalism. He is a Senior Fellow at NORC at the University of Chicago, a research institute. Rosenstiel is the author of 12 books, including four novels, and his latest book is The Next Journalism: How the Press Must Change to Serve Democracy, which is the subject of our podcast. He served as executive director of the American Press Institute, founded and directed the Project for Excellence in Journalism, a founding project of the Pew Research Center. In his career as a journalist, press critic and media researcher, Rosenstiel has worked for the Los Angeles Times, The Times, and Newsweek and was a commentator for MSNBC.
PLEASE NOTE: We require that attendees listen to the podcast below before attending the meeting to optimize discussion.
Podcast:
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(1 hr., 11 min.)
What's a podcast club?
It's like a book club for podcasts. Each week we discuss an interesting and currently-relevant episode from podcasters like Ezra Klein, Michael Shermer, or Russ Roberts. We start off as a large group and spend most of the time talking in small break-out groups, which we remix 3 times during the course of the evening. Our conversations are casual and open. We ask that everyone speak respectfully at all times, and we encourage free and concise discussion relevant to the week's podcast topic. To do this, we try to adhere to Grice's Maxims: https://bit.ly/2p4uSQm
Ultimately, the idea is to help each other think a little differently, learn a thing or two and have some fun.