Spring, the media massacre, and me.
Big media houses - Vice News, BuzzFeed - are on a layoff spree. It makes me uncomfortable. And here are some thoughts about it.
Spring has finally arrived in Geneva.
Geneva is a green city - lots and lots of open spaces with greenery, parks every couple hundred metres, water (potable) fountains… Spring and Autumn are easily the best times to live here. Safe to say, my soul is happy and hopeful. To celebrate the arrival of Spring, here’s a dad joke that I dearly cherish. Gotta spread the joy, you see?
Between my last post and this one, a lot has changed. To start with, the season and the weather. And then there is a lot that happened around social media, media platforms and media industry (read: “bloodbath”).
What perhaps spurred this post is this Axios interview of BuzzFeed chief Peretti published a couple of days ago. BuzzFeed recently laid off dozens of staffers and is shutting down its news division. These are journalists who have done amazing work and even won a Pulitzer Prize!
In his interview to Axios, Jonah Peretti, the Founder of BuzzFeed says that the organisation aims to “increase the amount of content it produces via independent internet creators”. He adds that the website will lean more towards content around fun and entertainment.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I like fun and entertainment. It is an essential part of life, yes. But, to make it sound synonymous to news, ground reportage, investigations etc just doesn’t sit well with me. (Call me a snob!)
I have huge respect towards digital content creators, who manage to capture our attention in creative ways and formats. They are brave to experiment with new trends, filters, and even apps. But, I am sorry, I don’t think it is appropriate to replace journalists with digital content creators.
Journalists are trained to view events through a critical lens, ask important questions, hold those in power accountable, fact-check the information they get…you get the drift. Content creators are skilled in packaging information in an appealing way. I think both these can and must co-exist.
Up skilling and learning each others’ crafts might be a good way to move forward because, let’s face it, it would be foolish to not know what sells and on what medium. But one cannot replace the other. These are skills that they can learn from each other, practise and grow.
We are at a point where we need journalism to sell, however tragic it might sound. (That’s a rant for another day) But that doesn’t mean one set of people can be replaced with another. We are at that point in history where trustworthy news is crucial across the world and therefore it becomes all the more important to not let journalists fade into oblivion, replaced by independent creators.
If someone has skills that combine the rigour of a journalist and the creativity of a content creator, that’s formidable.
In fact, the Axios interview reminded me of this scene from Aaron Sorkin’s The Newsroom. Sloan Sabbith rips apart an app called “ACNgage”, which provided realtime, unverified information about celebrity sightings to people at large. And, I think it makes a lot of sense.
Until next time,
M.