Beyond cats and Kardashians: can journalism satisfy audiences without dumbing down?
As news sites increasingly turn away from giving audiences what they need and instead focus on what they want, Peter Fray asks if the new ‘cats and Kardashians’ model of journalism can truly satisfy in this crossposting from The Conversation.
As the Federal government attempts to reform Australia’s media ownership laws, evidence is emerging that journalists are moving away from the traditional watchdog role of the press towards satisfying the demands of audiences.
Decades of debate about whether journalists ought to give audiences what they like rather than what journalists think they need is being resolved in favour of what US journalism thinker Jeff Jarvis dismisses as the “cats and Kardashians” model of digital journalism.
But is giving audiences what they want the same as dumbing down?
