Charlie Beckett
director Polis London School of Economics
Lucy Chambers
Open Knowledge Foundation
Mark Johnson
The Economist
Justin Peters
Slate
This year marks the Columbia Journalism Review's 50th anniversary, and in the anniversary issue CJR online editor Justin Peters edited a section that looked ahead to the next fifty years of news. Near the end of that section, he tried to articulate a coherent philosophy for how news organizations could help ensure their continued relevance by embracing the principles of the open web. Four panels will be held at the festival to expand on four key points in the essay, principles that news organizations ought to embrace if they are to fully realize the potential of the digital news revolution: collaboration, experimentation, education and moderation & participation.
The future of news: moderation & participation
Rather than saying, essentially, "Here's the news; talk amongst yourselves" a truly sustainable digital news organization must go out of its way to participate in and listen to the virtual communities that arise around its work. The panel will consider how news organizations can curate competing perspectives, foster debate and discussion, and avoid becoming echo chambers; how they can encourage and respond to productive dissent; and why the healthiest news organizations are often those that welcome corrections, answer questions, and listen to - rather than dismiss - valid complaints from community members.
Organised in association with Columbia Journalism Review