Scoop Foundation at Nethui

The Scoop Foundation Project for Public Interest Journalism will be at Nethui, with a session on Monday 8 July, 5 – 7pm, in Civic 3. Please come: we want your feedback and ideas. Here’s the plan for our session:

As the media struggles to adapt to the digital world, how do we ensure journalism in the public interest thrives?

In this session we look at the seismic shift underway in the media industry as newsrooms are stripped to the bone and pay walls go up on news websites. As the media’s ability to tackle issues in-depth and run investigations diminishes, new forms of journalism and funding for it are emerging, harnessing the power of the internet, digital publishing and crowd-funding.

What is the future of journalism that is in the public interest, tackles the big issues facing society and speaks truth to power? As plans for a non-profit foundation for public interest journalism takes shape, we’ll be discussing the state of journalism and the future potential and would love to hear your ideas.

Speakers:

• Freelance writer and former Herald senior feature writer Chris Barton. Chris will talk about his own experience of the pressures journalism is under. He’ll look at what he’s observed in his 15 years at the Herald and in particular the demise of feature writing and some of the reasons for that. He’ll wrap up with the hope that there is a way for long-form feature writing to flourish again.

• Science Media Centre manager and Sciblogs editor Peter Griffin. Peter will talk about his study trip to look at alternative media models including ProPublica and the Centre for Public Integrity in the U.S., and why those models won’t work here. Instead, he’ll be arguing for more of a Kickstarter approach to funding public interest journalism.

• Alastair Thompson, journalist and founder of Scoop Media and the Scoop Foundation for Public Interest Journalism. Alastair will focus on the proposed Scoop Foundation for Public Interest Journalism: where it’s at, the challenges it faces and where to from here.

Following the three speakers, we’ll open the room up for questions and discussion. Or, you can leave feedback here.