Jonathan Harley discussed the intersection of technology, social, media and journalism from his 20 years’ experience working in media and technology in roles such as a Foreign Correspondent with the ABC to Twitter’s Director of News Partnerships in Asia.
“The news landscape is a work in progress,†he told the State of Social ’19 delegates.
He said a lot of the business models have been turned on their head and are now busily trying to find their new news consumer.
“There’s a real awareness amongst newsrooms and news businesses that you can’t keep the future at arm’s length. You have to lean into this space. There’s no substitute for time and money in the making of good journalism,†he said.
Jonathan Harley said Millennials do consume news, but they consume it differently – with 46% of the daily podcast audience under the age of 30 and the fastest growing segment for The Guardian Weekly’s news magazine being 25 to 35 years old.
“But how do you also deliver that in an era where news consumption is more passive than it has been in the past… what does that look like in terms of helping the consumer find the content that is both compelling, engaging and high value,†he said.
Jonathan Harley says social media and technology have elevated the voices that have previously been hard to hear such Black Lives Matter, Indigenous X, marriage equality and the #MeToo movement.
“However, we’re also seeing the obscuring of truth and the undermining of trust in news… views are more polarised, and we can see tone and outrage go from zero to one hundred in the blink of an eye,†he warned.
“Part of that is about showing your working to drive trust in transparency, whether you’re a journalist or an executive.â€
