Journalism: Where is it headed?

Chris Masters is a great believer in journalism, and the need for GOOD journalism.

But the award-winning investigative journalist is acutely aware the parameters have changed in recent years.

It was Masters who, along with fellow journalist Nick McKenzie, reported allegations against decorated Australian soldier Ben Roberts Smith.

Roberts Smith went on to lose his defamation case in the Federal Court and has since launched an appeal.

Speaking on the Authorised podcast about his latest book Flawed Hero, Masters maintains an unwavering belief in the journalistic profession:

“I believe in facts. I like the process of refining facts and forming a narrative and doing so with great respect for the citizens around me.”

But he also believes the industry needs to lift its game.

“It’s a perennial disappointment to me that we’re supposed to be first rate communicators, but we don’t well communicate the importance of our own industry.”

Masters says we’re now living in an age where people can be their own gatekeepers.

“Many of them feel that they don’t need media, they don’t need the skills of people like myself,” he says.

“So I’m sort of unashamedly out there saying ‘Well, I think you’re wrong.’”

Masters says he has a mixed regard for media, and remembers feeling puzzled on the day he discovered he was being inducted into the Media Hall of Fame alongside Alan Jones.

Masters says he does not report in a way that tells people what to do.

“I hope that I can give information that assists the process.”

And he is frank in his assessment of how social media has impacted journalism:

“It feels to me like you’re constantly dealing with people putting stuff on the internet at two o’clock in the morning after three fifths of Jack Daniel’s.”

“I hope they regret it the next day.”

“It’s a bad world, I think. It’s clear that it’s also massively confusing. Journalism should clarify, it should explain … it should make life easier for us. But I don’t think the advent of social media actually does that.

“It just bewilders us. And sometimes distresses us.”