Amanda Hoh and Elise Dalley report for Reportage in Sydney from the Media, Investigative Journalism and Technology Conference 2010 @ Auckland University, December 4-5, 2010:
“I have met and worked with many young journalists in New Zealand… I don’t think you can tar them all with the same brush; there are some fantastic students doing some fantastic work here and there, but certainly the ones I see in television and also some of the ones I see in print, are obsessed with the theatre of journalism, but not with the substance…” - Jon Stephenson, New Zealand investigative journalist.
The above quote received the most attention during a panel discussion about the strategic future amid ‘death of journalism’ warnings. Throughout the conference, investigative journalists, academics and students discussed the future, benefits and barriers with investigative reporting in the media industry.
Stephenson mentioned a conversation he had with TV journalist Mike McRoberts about the future of students being war correspondents.
Stephenson said there was truth in the statement that “there is very little interest, or perceived interest, on the part of a lot of young New Zealanders about the situation in Iraq, Afghanistan.”
He also quoted independent left columnist Chris Trotter in his final piece for the now-closed Independent newspaper in New Zealand.
Combine the expectations of 18-year-old Kiwi males and females and the result is unlikely to fill most 54-year-old New Zealanders’ hearts with confidence. Self-obsessed, overconfident, ruthless and hungry for all the material trappings of success, these first-time voters are perhaps the least reliable custodians of the traditional New Zealand values of egalitarianism and fair-play that their elders could imagine. - Chris Trotter, The Independent
Stephenson stressed that these were Trotter's words and he made them about the generation that had grown up under Rogernomics, and did not refer specifically to young journalists.
Despite this quote cited during the panel discussion, Stephenson said afterwards that the commercial pressures of the industry and the pressure for students to get a job can often force them to adopt this mentality.
What do you think? Are young journalists reporting without substance?
Also on the panel:
Wendy Bacon – Director of the Australian Centre for Independent Journalism
Kunda Dixit – publisher and editor of Nepali Times
Bill Birnbauer – investigative journalist and journalism educator at Monash University
Pacific Media Centre
