Journalism in the Age of Branding

In my efforts to figure out the media landscape and where I might end up, I keep coming back to a great (and long) article by Maureen Tkacik in the Columbia Journalism Review - "Look at Me! A writer's search for journalism in the age of branding." 

Tkacik's experiences as a woman journalist covering issues like the phone sex industry and the hiring practices of American Apparel are worth a read, and I love her perspective on the new culture of self-centred, entertaining/obnoxious political blogs like Gawker and Wonkette. (Speaking of, Ana Marie Cox, where are you?)

More broadly, there's her take on the debate over objectivity in journalism, which I enjoy digging into whenever I get the chance. 

From a commercial perspective, “branding” has consistently bestowed its greatest rewards on those capable of projecting a kind of elusive authority that turns consumers’ fears, insecurities, aspirations, unarticulated dreams, etc. into healthy profit margins. But a sense of humanity is also a kind of authority. And maybe the best policy for our beaten-down population of journalists just naturally involves letting down the old guard of objectivity and letting go of illusions of unimpeachability. Rather than train journalists to dismiss their own experiences, what if we trained them to use those experiences to help them explain the news to their audience? Allow their humanity to shape their journalism? This isn’t some radically profound notion—it only seems that way in the context of the ridiculous zero-sum debate over the relative merits of “straight” news versus the self-absorbed nature of blogs. Maybe there is a way to combine the best of both.

I think she has a good point here -- particularly because new forms of media are changing the way we approach the news.  It's a much more interactive experience than it used to be, giving people immediate access to the basic facts and allowing them to build their own environment of commentary and discussion.  There are big risks to this approach, but it could also lead to better understanding of perspectives in terms of culture, gender, etc.

The trick, and the fun part if you ask me, is becoming media-savvy enough to separate fact from opinion and then figure out which perspectives come from valuable personal experiences and which ones are marketing hype and political spin.