On Friday, April 10 Rutgers University’s Journalism & Media Studies Department is hosting a free conference that’s open to the public Quality Journalism in the Digital Age to celebrate it’s 40th anniversary. Media professionals from NBC News, CBS News, NJ Advance Media and a number of university journalism professors will be among the more than 15 speakers.
A recent Pew Research Study shows that with even with the popularity of social media and the myriad of sources consumers can turn to for news, local TV news tops the list as the go-to source for residents.
I found that really interesting and wouldn’t have thought that to be the case.
The study’s results and relevance for New Jersey residents are explained by Philip M. Napoli, a professor of journalism and media studies at Rutgers, in the March 14, 2015 Nieman Journalism Lab’s Weekly Digest.
New Jerseyans like myself get most broadcast news from New York City and Philadelphia based stations, two of the top five media markets in the country. The stations do report NJ news but much of it is NYC or Philly focused.
It’s actually great on one hand since we have a lot of media options but on the other hand it’s not so great if local TV news is a primary source for residents’ news since we have a tiny number of NJ TV news organizations based in NJ.
Several local newspapers, websites and radio stations originate in New Jersey but not local TV. As the article explains, “The only city in New Jersey that has a small cluster of local TV stations to call its own is Atlantic City. For the rest of New Jersey, local TV news means news originating from New York or Philadelphia, or from a statewide cable news network such as News 12 New Jersey.”
The timely topic of local news is among those that will be addressed at the April conference. The others are:
- What does the notion of quality journalism mean in the contemporary media environment?
- Has the definition been changing over time?
- How should we go about measuring quality journalism?
- What are the most prominent challenges and opportunities associated with producing and sustaining quality journalism in the contemporary media environment?
With the fast changing media landscape it will undoubtedly be a lively informative discussion.