{"id":487179,"date":"2017-12-22T12:00:50","date_gmt":"2017-12-22T19:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=487179"},"modified":"2017-12-27T08:29:22","modified_gmt":"2017-12-27T15:29:22","slug":"rethinking-journalism-and-finding-hope-for-the-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2017\/12\/rethinking-journalism-and-finding-hope-for-the-future\/","title":{"rendered":"Rethinking journalism and finding hope for the future"},"content":{"rendered":"

COMMENTARY:<\/strong> \u201cInvestigative reporting that doesn\u2019t explore how to improve systems becomes just one more scream in the information overload of the 21st century about how everything sucks,\u201d I wrote in a recent email to other journalists about our craft.<\/p>\n

\"Heath

Heath Haussamen<\/p><\/div>\n

Lots of the noise, I wrote, \u201ccomes from the political realm and dark money. Journalism has to figure out how to distinguish itself from politics to earn back credibility, to stand out among the various voices \u2014 and to actually fill our societal role as prophets who help bring about change.\u201d<\/p>\n

Staff at the Solutions Journalism Network<\/a>, which I collaborated with this year on a multi-newsroom project about rural resiliency<\/a>, asked me to write the email. They were interested in learning about how the news organization I run, NMPolitics.net<\/a>, along with the Las Cruces Sun-News and KRWG News, married traditional investigative reporting with journalism that goes beyond deconstructing bad systems to seek solutions in a series on southern New Mexico\u2019s struggling behavioral health system<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The email made its way to Poynter<\/a>, a leading journalism think tank, which published it this week<\/a>. Given the criticism journalism has faced this year, I wanted to share with you where I believe journalism should be heading.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve worked for newspapers. I\u2019ve started a nonprofit news organization. Today I operate NMPolitics.net as a small business that\u2019s dependent on donations. Those experiences have pushed me to think hard about why we do journalism, and why many journalistic institutions have imploded.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn short, I think the long-held attitude of many \u2014 that journalism should simply inform the public \u2014 is wrong,\u00a0or outdated at best,\u201d I wrote in the email. \u201cGood journalism, especially in the 21st century, doesn\u2019t have to stop there \u2014 at a time when people feel their government (is) so out-of-reach, journalism can also engage people in a conversation about the information they\u2019re getting and help plug them\u00a0into\u00a0a larger discussion about where society is heading.\u201d<\/p>\n

Integral to that is seeking solutions. \u201cWhen journalists simply tear down systems, they\u2019re usually deconstructing systems that people on the ground already know suck,\u201d I wrote. \u201c… A big investigative report that reveals problems in VA care, for example, lands as a \u2018Duh\u2019 to anyone I know who\u00a0has\u00a0sought care from the VA or has a relative who has.\u201d<\/p>\n

Such reporting isn\u2019t unimportant. But it isn\u2019t enough.<\/p>\n

\u201cJournalism,\u201d I wrote, \u201cshould also be on the ground, tapping into the experiences and wisdom of people who interact with systems firsthand, and exploring not only how to deconstruct the bad ones, but how to replace them with better systems.\u201d<\/p>\n

The journalists I collaborated with this year were excited about helping our state think through how to build a better future. In my experience, newsrooms are full of journalists who are passionate about holding power accountable and helping people better understand and engage in society.<\/p>\n

But we need your help. Subscribe to your local newspaper. Donate to public media and news organizations like NMPolitics.net<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I found hope this year in journalistic collaborations that produced important reporting. Thanks to all of you who support NMPolitics.net and make my part in this work possible.<\/p>\n

\n
\n

Heath Haussamen<\/a>\u00a0is NMPolitics.net\u2019s editor and publisher.\u00a0Agree with his opinion? Disagree? We welcome your views. Learn about submitting your own commentary\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I found hope this year in journalistic collaborations that produced important reporting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":383420,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192,10,630],"tags":[3268,137],"class_list":["post-487179","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-commentary","category-haussamen-columns","category-news-about-nmpolitics-net","tag-journalism","tag-news-about-this-site"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487179","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=487179"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487179\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/383420"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=487179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=487179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=487179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}