Welcome!
I hope you will find this an honest and useful
resource about media, values and democracy. The Articles and Quotes sections offer my thinking about the future of news in this
changing world of Internet and global entertainment, the role
of journalism in a democracy, the importance of ethics, what's
wrong with much of today's journalism, and other lessons I've
learned over 30 years as journalist and teacher.
My favorite Links include other useful sites about journalism quality, controversies, ethics and technology, as well as some excellent news sites, nonpartisan political sites, and other related resources.
Click here to write to me. I will read your message, and if time permits, respond to your comments or questions. I welcome your own ideas and links, and, with your permission, may add them to this site. Thanks for visiting!
Ellen Hume
June Clipping
I am thinking about the future of news. Recently…
…MIT Prof. William Uricchio observed that old media make us feel like “a passenger in the back seat of the car, howling at the driver.”
…Phil Balboni debated a skeptical MIT student about news “objectivity” at Balboni’s new online GlobalPost venture.
…Harvard’s Shorenstein Center handed out prestigious Goldsmith investigative reporting prizes to mostly old media folks.
…And across the river, people started hearing the death rattle of the Boston Globe.
Even for the optimists, the media landscape remains a minefield of unresolved questions:
Is it enough that anyone can be in the driver’s seat now, creating and re-creating content, consuming whatever we like, and the hell with the rest of it?
Is news more authentic now?
Will my friends and colleagues spread the story to me if something relevant is out there?
Aren’t we glad to be washing our hands of “objectivity” and other myths?
Isn’t it glorious to be in the age of more information than we can possibly use?
Every day I am surrounded by people who have moved on from the mainstream news media with no regrets. The media didn’t tell us about the Bush Administration lies about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. They didn’t warn us about the pending financial collapse. …it’s all much better now that we are getting our news from real people.
My bottom line has always been: how can people understand their real choices for shaping their own lives and communities? How can the flow of news actually promote personal and community agency? This is why the future of journalism and civic media are important to me.