Panel - Cat Videos Will Save Journalism (Festival of Dangerous Ideas)

There’s been great unease about the future of 'serious' investigative journalism since the eruption of the internet shook up the traditional newspaper model. What if it’s not just the money to support this journalism that’s gone? What if it’s the readers as well, too busy sharing cat videos and shark memes to think about real news? While new philanthropic models for journalism are emerging, and traditional journalism is working out how to survive, the cat video publishers might be the ones to save the day. Maybe they were just using the cats to attract our attention, so that they could then give us the serious journalism we need. In the new world, there may be fewer newspapers, but good journalism might just find new homes (next to the cat’s basket?), and not entirely disappear.Simon Crerar is a Sydney-based British journalist and BuzzFeed’s Australia Editor.Tim Duggan is the Content Director and co-owner of Sound Alliance, which publishes In The Mix, Faster Louder, Same Same and Junkee.Peter Fray is deputy editor of The Australian and former editor-in-chief and publisher of the Sydney Morning Herald.Mark Scott is the Managing Director of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.