As more people go online for their news, media outlets have had to adapt their approach to journalism in order to reach their intended audiences.  

Students and journalists gathered for a discussion on these new approaches to digital journalism at the second media forum in the series of discussions organised by the journalism department at Goldsmiths, University of London. 

On the panel, moderated by Goldsmiths’ Professor Nathaniel Tkacz, were Robert Shrimsley and Miranda Green of the Financial Times, Jim Waterson, who previously worked at The Guardian, and the founder of new local reporting venture London Centric, on Substack, and Maximiliane Koschyk, Head of News Digital at Deutsche Welle, Germany’s international broadcaster.  

So, can local news embrace digital technologies, tell local stories in new ways, but stay true to the fundamentals of journalism, and connect with their audiences? The panelists said yes. 

Shrimsley told ELL: “[Journalism] is a fast-moving industry, but the fundamentals of it are never going to change. If you know how to do the basics, you have this enormous advantage, whatever type of journalism you want to move into.” 

According to an Ofcom report released last month, going online has increasingly become a preferred method of obtaining news, with 71% of UK adults getting their news digitally. With 52% of the UK population over 16 getting their news from social media, it has also played a major role in the shift online. 

However, in terms of impartiality, trustworthiness, and accuracy, traditional media outlets still hold the edge over online news sources generally, with social media rated even lower than online news. 

During the panel, Koschyk discussed DW’s transition to using platforms like TikTok to connect with their audiences and noted that although they had to adapt to different platforms and “figure out news ways of storytelling,” the way they approached their journalism remained the same. 

She said: “We did realise that it’s some part of our pedigree as a group of news journalists… that we can translate factchecking… being transparent in our work, but at the same time… put ourselves out there and embrace the platform dynamics.”  

The panel repeatedly emphasised that while new approaches and formats to delivering news digitally are necessary for the work of journalism to continue reaching its intended audiences, the fundamentals of journalism, such as transparency, accuracy, and high quality news content are not to be neglected. 

This is included covering complex topics such as politics. 

Green told ELL: “[The] same principles apply in terms of asking who benefits, who hurts, and what the impact of the actions of the powerful [are]. 

“I think that sort of local aspect is really important, particularly for political journalism because there’s actually a saying, [that] ‘all politics is local’.  

“The impact on the ground tells you a lot about how power is exercised, where the policies are the right ones, [and] the whole sort of panopoly of political questions that you’re asking yourself.” 

When asked why people should engage with local news, Waterson told ELL: “Maybe the thing that has been lacking is a bit of aggressive local news where people are willing to ‘punch people in the nose’ and see what happens, metaphorically. 

“I don’t think it’s up to them [locals] to have to [engage with local news]… You’ve got to go to where people are and make them want to read it, and too much of the media is on the idea that people should be consuming the content rather than journalists telling stories that are interesting to people in a way that they are going to see them.” 

The full panel discussion is available on ELL’s YouTube channel.