TRINIDAD and Tobago Publishers and Broadcasters Association (TTPBA) president Douglas Wilson has said navigating the media landscape remains difficult for the association’s members, especially with the rapid changes of the last three years.
Speaking at the TTPBA’s annual dinner and awards on November 5 at the TT Chamber of Industry and Commerce, Westmoorings, Wilson said contributions in capacities such as technical roles or behind the scenes or in journalism or pioneering programming have contributed to building the local publishing and broadcasting industry.
“But even as we do this, with the rapid changes of the last decade, and I would say particularly the last three years, the transformative impact of the platform technologies of social media and how the market of readers and viewers is engaged, we must surely explore an even wider range of contributions in our considerations.”
He said the role of journalism in the digital era is a huge issue by itself, and the media business model is rumbling, and has not yet settled.
“The dichotomy in news and media could not be wider. One is based on responsible gatekeepers (editors) who make decisions on what to publish and broadcast, and when to do so. One (is based) on seeking truth and presenting for the consumer to make of it what he/she will, while the other (one), well, (is) to influence.”
Wilson said people trusted the gatekeepers behind the media brands and their selection of what constitutes the important news.
“The news is/was dominated by morning papers and the 7pm news as the main gulps in which it was consumed. Now there is no filter, resulting in a market inundated with enormous volume of what we now nebulously refer to as ‘content’ and media on demand.
"And it is not only news, but all programming. As disruptions occur in all aspects of life the current methods displace the previous.”
[caption id="attachment_1119374" align="alignnone" width="1024"] TTPBA president Douglas Wilson, left, presents veteran journalist Dominic Kalipersad with an award for media excellence, for outstanding contribution to the development of broadcast journalism, at the TTPBA’s annual dinner and awards held at the TT Chamber of Industry and Commerce, Westmoorings on November 5. - Photo by Angelo Marcelle[/caption]
He said the key role of journalism and media has always been, and remains, as the fourth pillar in a functioning democracy: “In holding accountable those in positions of power, whether governmental, corporate, even religious authority as in the days of yore or otherwise.
"Where is that role to reside? How does it work? Is it with unstructured social media citizens’ journalism egged on, as it is, by its mass public consumption? Or does that prove to be a recipe for social chaos in the fullness of time?
"It is an important question which I have not yet seen addressed.”
Wilson said media organisations soldiered on, providing critical training for their journalists in areas such as artificial intelligence and its relevance in journalism, the impact of
