Michael Skoler on newsroom culture

By Joshua Benton @jbenton Dec. 12, 2008, 1:11 p.m.

Here’s the final installment of the Nieman Foundation’s recent panel on the future of journalism. This is Michael Skoler, executive director of the Center for Innovation in Journalism at American Public Media. (He’s currently on leave from that job.)

Michael is one of my favorite thinkers (and, more importantly, doers) in this field; through his Public Insight Network, he’s built a new way to draw upon the knowledge of the audience and to force journalists to expand the circle of people they talk to. Here, in 12 minutes, he talks about needed changes in newsroom culture — how adopting new technologies and hunting for a new business model, important as those are, won’t be enough. He calls for a real rethinking of how we view our audience. Be sure to give this one a listen.

Joshua Benton is the senior writer and former director of Nieman Lab. You can reach him via email (joshua_benton@harvard.edu) or Twitter DM (@jbenton).

POSTED Dec. 12, 2008, 1:11 p.m.

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