If journalism is dead, what is there instead?

We’ve been told a thousand times that journalism as we know it is dead. Is there then some kind of post-journalism? Are then those people telling the news post-journalists or journalists? Is still there anything like “news” at all?

American Benjamin Reece, film-maker and founder of Deltree, was the star of the talk Post-journalism: a new means of communication. Reece said he sees the whole thing as a war between the traditional elite, who’s always got the power, and the people. For him the technological change enables the people to step up and gain a public voice. “You all could be doing what I’m doing – telling your opinion to the world.”

Cristina Tagliabue, journalist of Nòva24, was of the same opinion: “The traditional newspapers don’t give much freedom, it’s in the internet and in video-making where we can really explore new ways of doing things”.

The public at the Sala dei Notari, mostly young people, clearly agreed with Tagliabue and Reece, the latest being interrupted by applauses a couple of times.

On the other side there was Maria Luisa Agnese of the Corriere della Sera, which was labelled as “the temple of traditional journalism” in Italy. She welcomed the innovations brought by the new technologies but defended the old values of journalism as still valid guidelines.

Angelo Mellone, columnist of Il Messaggero, was the moderator and he made an interesting point when introducing this question: “Traditional journalism has its defects but at least the rules are clear, we know what is going on, we know the reliability – but how can we control all this new journalism?”

Sociologist Giuliano Da Empoli offered a good counterpoint to the discussion from the outsider point of view. He said than “rather than post-journalism and journalism there is old news and new news”. Old news are the ones done in the institutional and traditional mainstream way, whilst new news are done in a different fashion which doesn’t necessary mean the use of the new technologies but also the use of different, alternative sources as well as new ways of getting and communicating the information.

At the end Reeze concluded with an idealistic note. “It’s up to us, the people, to create the new means, otherwise those who hold the power will keep it, but the future is ours”.

This is still to be seen.

Jose M. Calatayud