The Fourth Estate: Why Journalism Still Matters

Overview

Trawl through your social media feed on any given day and for the most part there's a combination of cute animals doing cute things, listicles (Buzzfeed articles that friends thought were funny enough to share, Buzzfeed articles that companies thought were funny enough to share and promoted something about themselves), branded content, and maybe a speckle of news in the form of the viral news story of the day.

Faced with such a cloud of fluffy bullshit and not much else, you've got to ask yourself: Is journalism dead? Does it even matter if it is?

Textbook journalism used to simply be to tell the story truthfully and fully - but with the pressure to report on populist stories that'll appease the lowest common denominator (and in turn advertisers), the time constraints on writers which in turn makes rehashing press releases and other news sites' breaking news an easier option than investigative reporting etc., it's not a reality anymore for many news organisations.

Today's media world are under a lot of pressure to not be neutral, and to not tell the stories that matter (because it takes too long/is too hard to find/won't be popular/all of the above).

Hosted by Dr. Valentina Cardo from the University of Auckland, 3D investigative journalist Paula Penfold and 3 News anchor Mike McRoberts will be discussing the state of journalism today and arguing that the limping, tarnished creature it is today is still important and can still be neutral in an environment that rewards everything but objectivity.

Besides being a 3 News anchor, Mike McRoberts has done investigative work in various conflict zones including Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Gaza and East Timor as well as covering natural disasters such as the earthquake in Haiti in 2010, the Japan earthquake and the Christchurch earthquakes in 2010 and 2011. Paula Penfold has worked in radio and television news, most notably working as an investigative journalist for 60 Minutes.

Tickets are $20, but there is also a 'pay as much as you can' option.