The shortcomings of traditional political journalism have been visible for some time. But the unprecedented presidency of Donald Trump has graphically exposed journalism’s weaknesses. In 2016, before the November election, Jay Rosen, Professor of Journalism at New York University, sat down with journalist Kathy Kiely at the Uncharted Festival of Ideas in Berkeley to talk about the right frame for interpreting press coverage of the presidential campaign. Their conclusions hold just as true for journalists after the election, when the stakes have proven so much higher.
Jay Rosen is the author of PressThink, a blog about journalism’s ordeals in the age of the Web, which he launched in 2003. In 1999, Yale University Press published his book, "What Are Journalists For," which was about the rise of the civic journalism movement. He was the co-publisher, with Arianna Huffington, of OfftheBus.Net, which allowed readers to participate in the Huffington Post’s election coverage in 2008. Rosen writes and speaks frequently about new media and the predicament of the press in a time of rapid transformation. He is also a frequent critic of the national press and its coverage of politics.
Kathy Kiely is a Washington-based journalist and journalism teacher with extensive experience in covering politics and in working across media platforms. She has served as an editor for Bloomberg Politics, the Sunlight Foundation, and at the National Journal, its website and for CBS News.
Listen to their conversation:
The Uncharted Festival is a production of Berkeleyside, Berkeley’s award-winning, independent news site. The annual two-day festival, launched in 2013, brings people together with some of the world’s great thinkers for two thrilling days of discussion, debate, and workshops designed to engage and inspire. Uncharted evolved out of the belief that the most intriguing ideas — and solutions to today’s big challenges — emerge from the collision of different visions and perspectives.
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