Kalb Report: Journalism integrity not killed by digital technology

Digital journalism is maturing and reverting to the standards that have guided the profession since the days when Edward R. Murrow invented broadcast news, four top journalists told a skeptical host Marvin Kalb March 23.

“Gone are the days when you could get a job because you knew a social media platform that your editors thought was completely magic,” said Evan McMorris-Santoro, the White House correspondent for BuzzFeed.

“We are back to the era, now, where it’s professionalizing again. Good reporting and good content are what they want.”

The latest edition of The Kalb Report focused on whether the standards established by Edward R. Murrow were making the transition to the digital age. It’s a time, Kalb said, when people are “reading CNN and watching The Wall Street Journal.”

“You’re all so enthusiastic about the digital age,” Kalb told the panelists. “I’m enthusiastic about American democracy. I want to know how the digital age is helping my children or grandchildren grow up in a better place.”

Kalb said he believed the digital age has fed the polarization of American society. He questioned whether the split-second competition to have information on the Web first and the need for reporters to have a personal Twitter and Facebook presence are undermining accuracy and objectivity.

“Competition among journalists is nothing new,” said Sam Feist CNN’s Washington bureau chief and senior vice president. “I think there was a newspaper once that had Dewey defeating Truman, and that was obviously a big mistake.”

In today’s media environment, he said, trusted sources of news are more important that ever because of the “cacophony of sources.” News sources that get it wrong too often will lose their audience. “Ronald Reagan used to say, ‘Trust but verify.’ I think that is more true now as a news consumer than ever.”

Just pursuing news that will get you the most clicks on the Internet is a losing proposition for any news organization, said Gabriella Stern, deputy managing editor of The Wall Street Journal and editor of the Journal’s strategic initiatives.

“We know how many people are looking at a given story at any given time,” she said. “So you could just decide, we’re just going to chase clicks. But the problem with that is you destroy your brand. You have to be true to who you are.”

While the transition to digital has shaken the news business and destroyed the old business model that supported it, the new technology also has opened up countless innovative ways to do journalism, said Jon Sawyer, founder and director of the Pulitzer Center, which helps underwrite international investigative reporting.

“Because of what’s made possible in the digital age, we now are able to reach a global audience,” he said. For the price of what used to be needed to run a small Washington bureau, he said, his organization is able to help produce in-depth journalism that reaches millions of people.

A reporter with a backpack loaded with a computer, a transmitter and a camera can now roam the world and report news to millions of people live, Feist said.

“There they are, in the middle of a remarkable national event, bringing that into the living rooms or onto the mobile devices of millions of people,” he said. “These tools are incredibly powerful.”

Kalb questioned whether the trend of reporters promoting themselves on Twitter or Facebook isn’t undermining credibility. “You have to tweet. You have to answer questions on Facebook. You have to help your corporation with what is called ‘audience engagement.” Now what the heck is that all about?”

“It’s tricky,” Stern said. “If you come to my Twitter account or my Facebook account, you will see pictures of our cats. You will see stories from the Wall Street Journal and other news organizations. But what you won’t see, unless I slip up, are my opinions. I’m extremely careful not to let slip how I feel about an issue.”

Journalists have to build personal brands, McMorris-Santoro said, because it makes their careers portable if they have a following on social media.

“If you meet a reporter who’s not on Twitter, people will be sort of confused by that,” he said. “This is a new world of reporting. And there is a way to do it that is not harmful and can actually add to the conversation.”

Social media is vital to getting the story out, Stern said.

“Today people find news in different ways, through multiple social media platforms,” she said. “If you just post stories or videos or interactive graphics on your website, and you expect people to come to you, you’re going to die.”

The Kalb Report is a joint project of the Club, the University of Maryland University College, the George Washington University and Harvard University’s Joan Shorenstein Center for the Press, Politics and Public Policy. It is underwritten by a grant from the Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation.