Not too long ago, traditional media was holding the reins — and its readership — at arm’s length. But a shift into the digital age has journalists interacting with their audiences in new and evolving ways.
Catherine Green, Voice of San Diego’s engagement editor, joined co-hosts Andrew Keatts and Scott Lewis on this week’s podcast to talk about what it means to be a journalist today. In addition to being one of VOSD’s star content producers, Green rallies members of the community to submit op-eds and keep the conversation going while maintaining the site and its social media offshoots.
Here are some of the key tidbits from Green’s appearance.
It’s not so unthinkable to be a one-man band.
“Here’s the thing about a fleet of new reporters covering things on the ground: We could do that now. I’m somewhat fresh out of J-school. I graduated in May of last year and they enforce this idea that you should be a one-man band when it comes to reporting. So I think that it’s not so above and beyond for us to be doing video … Hopefully other people would be into seeing the raw video that you guys get when you go out to cover events … I like the raw video.”
Using Twitter requires a little restraint — and a lot of responsibility.
“That’s probably the biggest reason Twitter is so problematic for newsgathering. There’s that benefit of instant accountability: People can get right on you and say, where did you get that? And you have to provide those links. But also in that competition to be the first to break something, everyone is tweeting things before they’re confirmed. And I’m not saying this is just San Diego journalists, obviously — it’s an industry-wide problem and I think we have to get it under control pretty fast.”
There’s plenty good about the gig.
“I like the fact that so much of my job has to do with what got me into journalism in the first place, way back — way back was like a year ago — when I was reporting primarily. I wanted to tell people’s stories. I like giving people a voice and giving them a platform, and that is really what drew me to Voice of San Diego. So I’m here for you.”
Download the rest of the show below to hear more from Green.
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