Journos Ask: Does Grey Matter?
Is going to a talk at the London School of Economics “relevant”?
I guess it’s all subjective. But here are some inscrutable facts:
Monday 23 February 2009, a debate at LSE:
Why did nobody see it coming? Reporting the Global Crash of ’08.
The panel included: Vince Cable (Lib Dem MP), Gillian Tett (Financial Times), Alex Brummer (Daily Mail) and Evan Davis (BBC, Dragon’s Den).
They were asked questions like:
- Did the media know that the crash was coming?
- If they did, why didn’t they warn us?
- Is it the media’s role to speculate?
Evan Davis (BBC) explained that the media tends to report – and has to report – key news that’s either good or bad.
There’s simply not time, in mainstream broadcasting, to digest the grey filling in that black and white sandwich.
Is that what bloggers do? Is that what people Tweet about? Is that how people use and consume the bulk of their online media? I must have missed that party.
Publishing stories is fast and personal now. It’s ok to make mistakes. It’s good to be subjective. It’s better to start a conversation with the wrong opinion than sit back and smugly wait.
At least two of the panel were bloggers. There was no lack of knowledge, insight or erudition on display.
Does publishing red-tape let journalists down? Or has big media been as complacent as the global economy in following – and promoting – its own “dominant narrative”?
Big questions for a Monday night. Few answers. A thick wedge of grey. Just like this post. But I did warn you.
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