Top journalists with diverse backgrounds talk future of the industry at Santa Barbara City College

News deserts, shrinking newsrooms, layoffs, politics, a fragmented media landscape and technological advancements—these are just some of the factors that have come to define the current state of journalism. 

In a panel hosted by Vistas Lifelong Learning on Friday at Santa Barbara City College’s Fe Bland Forum, News-Press editor Josh Molina, Santa Barbara Newsmakers editor Jerry Roberts, former CNN anchor Jeff Greenfield and former White House reporter Martin Kasindorf discussed how journalism has changed over the course of their careers and what the future of the industry holds. 

The panel was moderated by former Santa Barbara City College Vice President Jack Friedlander and drew nearly 160 attendees. 

Despite a range of journalism careers represented at Friday’s panel—spanning nearly 60 years across local, national, print and broadcast newsrooms—all four journalists agreed that the industry has totally flipped on its head. 

“What happened in the half century or more since is a complete smashing of every fundamental structure that we once took for granted,” said Greenfield. 

With every new technological advancement, Greenfield said, news has become more fragmented. Now, with social media, anyone can present themselves as a journalist — making it difficult for consumers to know what voices to listen to. 

Molina, who aside from editing the News-Press also hosts his own podcast, said he’s had to reinvent himself multiple times to stay relevant due to the changing landscape. Because of the downsizing of newsrooms, journalists have had to take on more beats and responsibilities, including those of a photojournalist or a videographer. 

Technological advancements have certainly changed the business and distribution models of newspapers, but so have politics and public perception, the panelists agreed. 

With experience covering the administrations of former presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, Kasindorf recounted a time when the White House Press Secretary was “generally helpful to the press.” 

A general contempt for the media has trickled down from President Donald Trump to his cabinet members, Kasindorf said, helping to frame the press in a negative light. 

“It’s always got to be an adversarial relationship, but you can be civilized about it,” Kasindorf said about the relationship between the White House Press Secretary and the press. “Now, it’s not civilized. Now, it’s confrontational.”

Molina said Trump’s use of the phrase “fake news” has made the public more skeptical of journalists. In addition, Molina said Fox News has created propaganda and a “world of fear” that has trickled down to local reporters. 

“They think that reporters are the bad people, the villains, because on cable, they’re saying they’re telling the truth, and everyone else is not,” Molina said.

Despite the smattering of ad-based business models, traditional newsgathering techniques and the public’s perception of the media, the mission of journalism has remained the same. 

For Roberts, former editor of the News-Press and San Francisco Chronicle and host of the multimedia channel Newsmakers with JR, the mission of journalism has consistently been to “tell stories that inform, entertain and hold the powerful to account.” 

The pursuit of the truth, Greenfield said, still holds strong. 

“Every once in a while, you read a story, and you realize that the old traditional notion of finding the facts, uncovering the facts, leads to clicks,” Greenfield said. “It makes me optimistic that there are still a lot of really good journalists that are determined to find out what has happened beneath the surface of some pretty ugly stories.”

And Molina, who also teaches journalism at Santa Barbara City College, said he believes journalism is still a worthwhile pursuit for any of his students wanting to go into the field. 

“When you’re on your deathbed, you’re going to be able to know that you did everything you could to inform and empower the community to make better decisions,” Molina said, holding back tears. “And it is more important than money.” 

Panelists ended the discussion with thoughts about the future of journalism and what they believe is a sustainable business model for today’s newspapers. 

Molina and Kasindorf said a nonprofit model can be sustainable for news organizations who don’t want reporters or reporting to be beholden to advertisers, hedge funds or billionaire owners. 

“There are many benefits of nonprofit journalism,” Molina said. “We can go out and do our jobs today thinking solely on what’s best for the audience, for the readers, and not necessarily be worrying about getting advertising from commercial real estate brokers or any other sample of the population.” 

Greenfield said that newsrooms must take advantage of the digital revolution to be successful, citing the New York Times’ digital subscription growth as an example. 

Roberts said he was unsure if a nonprofit model for journalism can be scaled, but that it is one piece of a broader solution.

“I think the era of experimentation continues,” Roberts said. “And I think the most important place that happens is on the local level.” 

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