We like symmetry in numbers. So here are 20 (mostly hypothetical) questions that could prompt some reflection as we enter 2020:
1. What if journalists were to cut the time they spend on Twitter in half?
2. Or what if their bosses, the ones who over the past decade insisted on reporters being active on Twitter, were wrong all along — that social media use, on balance, would never be the net positive that many imagined?
3. What if journalists individually and news organizations collectively had a better understanding of the things they do that actually create value (economic, societal, or otherwise)?
4. And what if they had a better sense for what stands in the way of their doing more of the high-value and less of the low-value work?
5. What if research about journalism — of which we have so much, more than ever! — were more fully integrated into the way that universities teach journalism?
6. How might that change, for one thing, the way that journalists tend to look so skeptically on people who study the media — even as they give overwhelming deference to economists, lawyers, psychologists, sociologists, and political scientists (roughly in that order) when it comes to sourcing experts, even on issues where communication scholars have important things to add to the conversation?
7. Or, more consequentially, what might finally help us bridge the persistent gap between academic research and industry practice, to the betterment of both?
8. What if newsrooms produced less news but had greater impact?
9. How would the conversation around the sharing of misinformation be different if we more fully recognized that communication is as much a ritual experience — a cultural means of identity and community and self-expression — as it is about the functional transmission of information?
10. Who will bring much-needed nuance to the public debate about filter bubbles and echo chambers, particularly at a time when pundits proclaim one thing and empirical evidence seems to suggest another?
11. How can we better account for social inequalities in who gets news?
12. If lower-income people generally get lower-quality information, and if the transition to paywalls and elite-oriented nonprofit news only exacerbates information asymmetries, what would a journalism look like that prioritizes serving the poor?
13. What would news organizations do differently if they better realized what a frustrating and fraught experience it is for many people, across the political spectrum, to consume news much of the time?
14. Would they start with simply rethinking and redesigning, entirely from scratch, how news products are labeled — for example, to clarify differences that bother people about what’s news vs. what’s opinion, or what “news analysis” is supposed to mean?
15. Or would it involve more transparently explaining the reporting process, the use (and abuse) of anonymous sources, and why some voices appear in the news more than others?
16. What if relational forms of journalism — ones that emphasize building relationships with communities and developing more mutually beneficial interactions with audiences (yes, ones I’ve argued for) — sound nice in theory but assume that people want to participate in news more than they actually do?
17. Or what if the forces that are pushing journalists to develop a personal brand online are also putting those same journalists (especially women and minorities) into more compromising situations of hostility and harassment?
18. Though people generally could stand to be better informed than they are at the moment, when is too much news, well, too much?
19. Or: When does news begin to harm more than it helps?
20. If, in the end, there’s more to celebrate than lament about the state of journalism, and if we want to preserve what we prize and appreciate about journalism, how can we more forcefully defend the press as an institution — particularly in the face of authoritarian attack — even while just as readily acknowledging its broken parts and urging their repair?
That’s a question worth considering in 2020 and beyond.
Seth C. Lewis is the Shirley Papé Chair in Emerging Media in the School of Journalism and Communication at the University of Oregon.
We like symmetry in numbers. So here are 20 (mostly hypothetical) questions that could prompt some reflection as we enter 2020:
1. What if journalists were to cut the time they spend on Twitter in half?
2. Or what if their bosses, the ones who over the past decade insisted on reporters being active on Twitter, were wrong all along — that social media use, on balance, would never be the net positive that many imagined?
3. What if journalists individually and news organizations collectively had a better understanding of the things they do that actually create value (economic, societal, or otherwise)?
4. And what if they had a better sense for what stands in the way of their doing more of the high-value and less of the low-value work?
5. What if research about journalism — of which we have so much, more than ever! — were more fully integrated into the way that universities teach journalism?
6. How might that change, for one thing, the way that journalists tend to look so skeptically on people who study the media — even as they give overwhelming deference to economists, lawyers, psychologists, sociologists, and political scientists (roughly in that order) when it comes to sourcing experts, even on issues where communication scholars have important things to add to the conversation?
7. Or, more consequentially, what might finally help us bridge the persistent gap between academic research and industry practice, to the betterment of both?
8. What if newsrooms produced less news but had greater impact?
9. How would the conversation around the sharing of misinformation be different if we more fully recognized that communication is as much a ritual experience — a cultural means of identity and community and self-expression — as it is about the functional transmission of information?
10. Who will bring much-needed nuance to the public debate about filter bubbles and echo chambers, particularly at a time when pundits proclaim one thing and empirical evidence seems to suggest another?
11. How can we better account for social inequalities in who gets news?
12. If lower-income people generally get lower-quality information, and if the transition to paywalls and elite-oriented nonprofit news only exacerbates information asymmetries, what would a journalism look like that prioritizes serving the poor?
13. What would news organizations do differently if they better realized what a frustrating and fraught experience it is for many people, across the political spectrum, to consume news much of the time?
14. Would they start with simply rethinking and redesigning, entirely from scratch, how news products are labeled — for example, to clarify differences that bother people about what’s news vs. what’s opinion, or what “news analysis” is supposed to mean?
15. Or would it involve more transparently explaining the reporting process, the use (and abuse) of anonymous sources, and why some voices appear in the news more than others?
16. What if relational forms of journalism — ones that emphasize building relationships with communities and developing more mutually beneficial interactions with audiences (yes, ones I’ve argued for) — sound nice in theory but assume that people want to participate in news more than they actually do?
17. Or what if the forces that are pushing journalists to develop a personal brand online are also putting those same journalists (especially women and minorities) into more compromising situations of hostility and harassment?
18. Though people generally could stand to be better informed than they are at the moment, when is too much news, well, too much?
19. Or: When does news begin to harm more than it helps?
20. If, in the end, there’s more to celebrate than lament about the state of journalism, and if we want to preserve what we prize and appreciate about journalism, how can we more forcefully defend the press as an institution — particularly in the face of authoritarian attack — even while just as readily acknowledging its broken parts and urging their repair?
That’s a question worth considering in 2020 and beyond.
Seth C. Lewis is the Shirley Papé Chair in Emerging Media in the School of Journalism and Communication at the University of Oregon.
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Brenda P. Salinas Treating MP3 files like text
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Sue Robinson Campaign coverage as test bed for engagement experiments
Fiona Spruill The climate crisis gets the coverage it deserves
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Candis Callison Taking a cue from Indigenous journalists on climate change
Joe Amditis Collaborative journalism takes its rightful place at the table
Don Day Respect the non-paying audience
Carl Bialik Journalists will try running the whole shop
Mary Walter-Brown and Tristan Loper Power to the people (on your audience team)
Brian Moritz The end of “stick to sports”
Catalina Albeanu Rebuilding journalism, together
Jeremy Olshan All journalism should be service journalism
Mike Caulfield Native verification tools for the blue checkmark crowd
Colleen Shalby Journalists become media literacy teachers
Mario García Think small (screen)
Moreno Cruz Osório In Brazil, collaboration in a time of state attacks
Kathleen Searles Pay more attention to attention
Errin Haines Race and gender aren’t a 2020 story — they’re the story
Cory Haik We’re already consuming the future of news — now we have to produce it
Madelyn Sanfilippo and Yafit Lev-Aretz News coverage gets geo-fragmented
Peter Bale Lies get further normalized
Dan Shanoff Sports media enters the Bronny era
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Cristina Kim Public media stops trying to serve “everybody”
Rick Berke Incoming fire from both left and right
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Cindy Royal Prepare media students for skills, not job titles
Michael W. Wagner Increasingly fractured, but little bit deliberative
Stefanie Murray Charitable giving goes collaborative
Kourtney Bitterly Transparency isn’t just a desire, it’s an expectation
Jonas Kaiser Russian bots are just today’s slacktivists
Alice Antheaume Trade “politics” for “power”
Tonya Mosley The neutrality vs. objectivity game ends
Barbara Gray Join local libraries on the frontlines of civic engagement
Josh Schwartz Publishers move beyond the metered paywall
Tom Glaisyer Journalism can emerge newly vibrant and powerful
Matt DeRienzo Local broadcasters begin to fill the gaps left by newspapers
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Irving Washington Leadership isn’t something you learn on the job
Elizabeth Dunbar Frank talk, and then action
Greg Emerson News apps fall further behind
Christa Scharfenberg It’s time to make journalism a field that supports and respects women
Linda Solomon Wood Everyone in your organization, moving toward a common goal
Kerri Hoffman Opening closed systems
Jakob Moll A slow-moving tech backlash among young people
Bill Adair A Nobel Prize, a Brad Pitt film, and a Taylor Swift song
Monica Drake A renewed focus on misinformation
Heidi Tworek The year of positive pushback
Victor Pickard We reclaim a public good
Jim Brady We’ll complain about other people living in bubbles while ignoring our own
John Garrett It’s the best time in a century to start a local news organization
Masuma Ahuja Slower, quieter, more measured and thoughtful
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Jasmine McNealy A call for context
S. Mitra Kalita The race to 2021
Sarah Stonbely More people start caring about news inequality
Jennifer Brandel A love letter from the year 2073
Tamar Charney From broadcast to bespoke
Meredith Artley Stronger solidarity among news organizations
Steve Henn The dawning audio web
Jake Shapiro Podcasting gets listener relationship management
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Emily Withrow The year we kill the news article
Sarah Schmalbach Journalist, quantify thyself
Matthew Pressman News consumers divide into haves and have-nots
Heather Bryant Some kinds of journalism aren’t worth saving
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Carrie Brown-Smith Engaged journalism: It’s finally happening
Kevin D. Grant The free press stands against authoritarians’ attacks on truth
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Seth C. Lewis 20 questions for 2020
Talia Stroud The work of reconnecting starts November 4
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Lucas Graves A smarter conversation about how (and why) fact-checking matters
Gordon Crovitz Fighting misinformation requires journalism, not secret algorithms
Sarah Marshall The year to learn about news moments
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