Panel Report: Future of Journalism

Tomáš Trampota, Epp Lauk and Boguslawa Dobek-Ostrowska
© Jakub Plíhal

Chair: Tomáš Trampota, Charles University in Prague

Speakers:

Epp Lauk, University of Jyväskylä, Finland
Samuel Brečka, Pan-European University, Slovakia
Boguslawa Dobek-Ostrowska, University of Wroclaw, Poland

What is the future of journalism and future of media? Many journalist thinks that media (as we know them) are nearly dead. And that they will end. Another group of professionals is convinced that media will not die - they will only change. But nobody knows what happens in the comming years.

Epp Lauk, Samuel Brečka and Boguslawa Dobek-Ostrowska are professionals, but each of them has a different oppinion. And a little bit different topic of presentation.

Epp Lauk speaks about Encouraging the best while mitigating the worst: Media accountability as a concept and practice. She thinks that the media use the freedoms but often disregard the responsibilities. One of the examples is a scandal about the News of the World and phone tapping. Then she compares the experience of 14 countries involved in Media Accountability and Transparency in Europe project (you can find more information about this project here). She analyzes forms of state involvement in regulation, self-regulation, media's responsiveness to audiences and if people watches the „watchdog“. And what is the result? Media responsibility concept, self-regulation process and involvement of civil society are the most important for the responsible future of media.

Samuel Brečka
© Jakub Plíhal

Samuel Brečka speaks about The End of journalism. First of all, he projected a video about social media, where you can see some interesting data about Facebook, Wikipedia, blogs and the Internet. The most important is the phenomenon of social media. "Many companies do not do web pages, but Facebook page," he says. And he underlines that "individual communication tuns to mass communication". His presentation si based on international research and also on national research. Brečka analyzes the impact of economic, social and technological changes on the journalism. But he is not so pessimistic about the future of media: "Journalism as a profession is not diminishing, it is only being modified," he thinks.

Boguslawa Dobek-Ostrowska's topic is De-professionalization of journalism? Polish journalists in a comparative perspective. She thinks that journalists are under pressure and underlines that "in Poland, 55 % people trust to journalists. But only 5 % trust to politicians". And Polish journalists are still influenced by communism. "20 years after communism, Polish journalists are still politizated," she says. But she thinks that it can be better in Poland in future. "They colonized politics – it is very visible in Poland," she says.