Washington State University Vancouver’s Chancellor’s Seminar Series hosted the Murrow Interview onMarch 7.
Larry Pintak, dean of the Edward R. Murrow College of Communication at Washington State University, interviewed Dan Fletcher, formerly of Time magazine and Facebook and now co-founder of a startup that connects readers and writers to fund journalism. Fletcher and Pintak discussed where the news business is heading in the digital universe.
Fletcher said a hunger for information will change the marketplace, but until that happens, consumers need to know they may not be getting the entire news picture.
Pintak asked: “In our ever-changing news environment, which comes first: trustworthy news content or financial viability?”
Fletcher said he worries that with today’s hyper-personalized content, it is more difficult to discover opposing or differing viewpoints. News consumers often see information that is preselected for them by complex online algorithms that help find more targeted content. In the process, alternative stories or differing viewpoints can get lost, Fletcher said.
