Media outlets are experimenting with ways to attract younger audiences, as the under 35s snack instead of grazing on smartphones across their multiple networks for news. They also have the lowest trust in media, according to a Reuters Institute report.  How can media gain the trust of younger audiences? How can they inspire loyalty? Is it true that younger audiences don’t consume long-form content?     For our #FutureOfJournalism series, the AJF's Chair Peter Wilkinson talked to Phoebe...

John Cook created Cranky Uncle to fight misinformation. He’s a scientist and reporting those complexities is not easy. Take climate change. How might journalists have covered climate change in a more nuanced way – without giving so much weight to a tiny contrarian minority? What lessons can be learned from the way media covered Covid-19 vaccines?  For our #FutureOfJournalism series, the AJF's Chair Peter Wilkinson talked to Cook, a research fellow with the Monash Climate Change Communication...

A journalists' job, in part, is to shine light into dark corners. But how can they be effective when increasingly readers don’t read beyond the headline, and headline writers are driven by clicks? How can journalists cover disinformation and avoid becoming vehicles for it?  For our #FutureOfJournalism series, the AJF's Chair Peter Wilkinson talked to Claire Wardle, co-founder and director of the Information Futures Lab at the US-based Brown University which is focused on fixing the way...

The digital revolution brought an end to the glory days of most print publications. However, journalism’s ability to reach larger audiences has never been better than now. How can legacy media rethink their role and attract younger readers who are less loyal to news brands? Is it time to redefine journalistic objectivity? Is using individual brands of journalists a better way to gain the trust of audiences? For our #FutureOfJournalism series, the AJF's Chair Peter Wilkinson talked to Raju...

Where does journalism fit into the metaverse? And what is the metaverse beyond a concept? Well, it’s tomorrow’s internet -- a convergence of virtual and augmented reality, artificial intelligence, blockchain, digital currencies, and 5G. It is predicted to reshape the way people live, work and play, and with immersive content, how we get, or experience, new information.    For our #FutureOfJournalism series, the AJF's Peter Wilkinson talked to Zillah Watson, a London-based consultant on VR...

As newsrooms become more complex, journalists will be increasingly negotiating with a variety of experts: data harvesters, social and digital geeks, product developers, content executives and marketing specalists. So how should the media bosses rethink their strategies? And can an increasingly smarter focus on audiences help journalism thrive and, ultimately, be more trusted? In 2019, former journalist, Anita Zielina, founded an executive program in news innovation – a kind of MBA for media...

Who is going to pay in future for trustworthy and quality journalism as the money once used to pay for it further bleeds into other communication options?  Audiences in regional areas are amongst the biggest losers as their only local news source closes. The governments in the United States, Canada and UK are contemplating following the Australian precedent of making Big Tech pay news publishers. Is that a band-aid option, or a sustainable solution?   Timothy Karr is a senior director at...

The AFP raids in 2019 shone a light on press freedom issues in Australia. However, our record more generally for press freedom is relatively lacklustre – last year we were 25th in the world according to Reporters Without Borders. New Zealand was eighth – https://rsf.org/en/index?year=2021 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Press_Freedom_Index  Hence the importance of the Alliance for Journalists’ Freedom (AJF), an organisation that works with governments on initiatives to improve our press...

How are podcasts changing journalism? They’ve exploded in popularity during the pandemic. Media companies are recognising that they are, at least, part of our immediate future. Tech giants like Spotify and Amazon are investing in exclusive shows in the hope of attracting a different type of paying subscriber. Will this trend live on into the next decade and beyond? Kellie Riordan was the creative lead of the ABC’s audio team and oversaw the production of some of Australia’s most successful...

Is our media good for us? For instance, at what point does the hostility between the ABC and The Australian become unhealthy? Is the sustained public polarisation good for us - and for a strong democracy, which, after all, a free press is committed to strengthening?    And is there an alternative to the wall-to-wall criticisms and ‘gotcha’ moments on current affairs TV?    The reason many people become journalists is to create a better society – that was certainly one of my motivations....

Does it matter that the Murdoch press is seen as right and the ABC left-wing? And what damage is done by the way media bias has been magnified in the US, especially through the Trump era? These are fundamental ethical issues going to the heart of journalists and publishers’ obligations to the rest of us. And they are what Kelly McBride grapples with. As Chair of the Craig Newmark Center for Ethics and Leadership at the Poynter Institute, her role is to guide publishers and journalists on...

Two journalists were awarded the #NobelPeacePrize in October, for what the Committee called their courageous work standing up for the craft in a world in which democracy and freedom of the press face increasingly adverse conditions.  Now, you might say “So what?” Why give the award to Maria Ressa in the Philippines and Dmitry Muratov in Russia, and that it would be better going to, for instance, the people who discovered the vaccines for COVID, or one of the champions of climate change? Here...

Its possibilities are tantalising! The Pandora Papers, just published, boasting 600 journalists across 130 publications, exposing global financial secrets and tax evasion until now hidden from authorities. That collaboration was via the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). Earlier, in July another global collaboration, Forbidden Stories based in Paris, exposing governments spying via the Pegasus Project detailing leaked 50,000 phone numbers with Israeli developed...

Is the media too powerful and too invasive? Do those who work to keep the powerful in check, really need to check themselves? And does the pursuit of tears by television journalists demean both journalism and the talent?    These are questions UK journalist John Lloyd, with five decades of journalism, editing and book writing under his belt, wrestles with. In 2004 he published 'What the Media Are Doing to Our Politics' and in 2017 'The Power and the Story'. In 2006 he co-founded the Reuters...

Journalism connects people within their communities. Correct? Or, is that only part of the picture now, and less so in future? Perhaps, with the internet, journalism is now just one way people now connect in communities, and that’s what this episode is about. In Canada, Farhan Mohamed’s passion is making communities better. And he believes the future of journalism is a part of a jigsaw of ways people connect. #journalist #journalism #auspol #abcnews #Nine #News (The #FutureofJournalism...

Jim Kennedy in New York has made a career of future thinking. He’s been leading strategic planning for AP, The Associated Press,  the world’s largest news organization, since 2001. Before his current role was executive director of product planning for the digital site at the Wall Street Journal. Now, besides his current role he’s a founding member of the Online News Association, a current board member of Digital Content Next and an advisory board member of Matter Ventures, a media startup...

A voluntary certification program for journalists has taken a major step forward with a collaboration by The Ethics Centre and the Alliance for Journalists’ Freedom to develop the proposal. This is a major next step following the AJF proposing such a scheme in November last year.  On this World Press Freedom Day, we invite conversation from our peers, journalists, lawyers, politicians and others about developing such a scheme.   Here, Dr Simon Longstaff, Executive Director of The Ethics...

Future of Journalism Ep9: Learning from history. It’s been argued that the pace of change is now so fast, that in many areas, what we can learn from history about the future is limited. Not so with the future of journalism says Hugh Riminton. He has been award-winning TV reporter, foreign correspondent, author, and news anchor including for CNN in the USA. He’s currently National Affairs Editor at Network 10. Relevant to us though, he’s an amateur historian, and so argues there's a lot to...

Episode 8: The birth of a new kind of information driven journalism I’m Peter Wilkinson and The Future of Journalism is a series presented by the Alliance for journalists’ Freedom in Australia, exploring where journalism should be heading. Nabiha Syed is at the forefront of strengthening journalism by better harvesting the information on the internet. Forbes magazine called her "one of the best emerging free speech lawyers". In 2016, she was named as a "40 Under 40 Rising Star" by the New...

Future of Journalism Series Ep7: Less destructive, more constructive news. Does the news report problems or create them? For instance, are journalists partly responsible for the destruction of Australian federal ministers, Christian Porter and Linda Reynolds? If you think “Yes” then Ulrik Haagerup is singing your song. He founded the Constructive Institute in Denmark with the aim of changing the global newsroom culture so that journalists report stories that are solutions-focussed. Ulrik...

Episode 6: Government secrets, 82 laws, less Press Freedom. The future of journalism is inextricably linked to national security. The greater the need to protect the secrets of governments, the greater the need to protect press freedom. So what protections do journalists need? Dr. Rebecca Ananian-Welsh, a University of Queensland School of Law lecturer, researches the impact of national security laws on press freedom. She says there have been 82 anti-terrorism laws legislated in Australia...

How much freedom do we want journalists to have in the future? More or less than they have now? There is a perpetual tug-o-war between publishers and journalists, and governments, and the courts - and to a lesser extent the rest of us who witness the media’s successes and transgressions. The context these days is partly the pressure on governments to tighten national security including from terrorists and cyber-attacks, with journalists like the rest of us, losing freedoms in the...

In Ep.4 of this series, we explore the case ‘for’ Google and Facebook paying publishers for their content. We also explore the voluntary certification of journalists and the partisan battle between News Ltd and the ABC. Peter Wilkinson interviews Greg Hywood who was CEO of Fairfax Media during controversial journalist redundancies and then the merger with the Nine television network.

Alan Soon, Co-Founder of Splice Media, is the energy and intellect behind the digital news revolution across much of Asia. Described as the Nieman Lab of Asia, Splice transforms media start-ups through events, consulting, training, funding, reporting, research and more. If anyone has an eye for how to create media diversity in the future, it's Alan Soon.