What's The Future of Journalism? Nikki Usher

How Do We Fix It?

The news media and journalists themselves are faced with a crisis of confidence and trust. The internet broke the old business model of locally-based newspaper reporting and replaced it with national opinion journalism written by and for well-educated metropolitan elites.

Our guest is Nikki Usher, Associate Professor at the University of San Diego, who studies journalism, politics, tech, and power. Nikki's recent book is "News For The Rich, White and Blue: How Place and Power Distort American Journalism".

In our conversation we look at the loss of place in American journalism, the gap between "news haves and have-nots", and how technology can be used to challenge old journalistic models and lead to new ways of delivering news to audiences that have been poorly served in the past.

For decades the polling firm Gallup has been asking Americans: "How much confidence and trust do you have in the news media?" In the 1970's more than two-thirds of the public said they had a great deal or a fair amount of confidence. Today, the proportion is down to one-third. Most Americans distrust what they read, see, or hear from news outlets. A minuscule 7% of Americans have "a great deal" of trust and confidence in the media.

We ask how do we fix it? and how journalists can gain a better understanding of why so many readers, viewers, and listeners believe that they tell lies or simply don't care about the truth.

In this episode, we hear about efforts by The Los Angeles Times and Philadelphia Inquirer to reassess their roles in the community. We also learn about growing non-profit regional news organizations such as The Voice of San Diego and the Connecticut Mirror. Jim and Richard also discuss the work of the online platform Substack.

Recommendation: Richard enjoys listening to the podcast series, "Rumble Strip", produced and hosted by Erica Heilman. This extraordinary show was profiled in The New Yorker and won a 2021 Peabody Award for the episode, "Finn and The Bell".

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