What next? Ethan Zuckerman's keynote at the Windesheim University constructive journalism conference, December 2016

1. Ethan Zuckerman
“What Now?”/“Wat nu?”
@ethanz
#cjc16
2.12.16

3. “Shocked,
but not surprised”

4. institutionalists
insurrectionists

5. “Do you trust the government in Washington to do the right thing
all or most of the time?” 77% in 1964, 19% in 2011.
Pew Research Center, Public Trust in Government: 1958-2014

6. +22 (+44%) from 50% in 1981
+10 (+18%) from 57% in 1998
-12 (-19%) from 64% in 2004
-26 (-38%) from 68% in 1975
-43 (-54%) from 80% in 1975
-39 (-54%) from 72% in 1991
-33 (-51%) from 65% in 1988
-31 (-50%) from 62% in 1975
-32 (-53%) from 60% in 1979
-15 (-38%) from 39% in 1977
-27 (-53%) from 51% in 1979
-6 (-21%) from 29% in 2012
-25 (-54%) from 46% in 1993
-13 (-38%) from 34% in 1975
-34 (-81%) from 42% in 1973

8. Yascha Mounk and Roberto Stefan Foa,
“The Signs of Democratic Deconsolidation,”
Journal of Democracy, 2017

9. 113th Congress,
9% approval
Passed 296 laws,
84 were“symbolic”

10. “CNN sucks!”
oh… they hate us,too

11. FAKE

13. cc photo by Sara Björk
mistrust leads to powerlessness

16. efficacy?

17. WELL THAT MAKES ME
ANGRY
SEEMS LIKE I SHOULD DO
SOMETHING TO HELP
OOH, LOOK! PICTURES OF
KITTIES!
images from Randall Munroe’s wonderful (and CC licensed) xkcd comic strip
are we helping people be effective?

18. Inform
Investigate
Analyze
Public Forum
Social Empathy
Mobilization
Promote Democracy
“Six or Seven
Things the News
can do for
Democracy”

19. Inform
Investigate
Analyze
Public Forum
Social Empathy
Mobilization
Promote Democracy
“Six or Seven
Things the News
can do for
Democracy”

20. Inform
Investigate
Analyze
Public Forum
Social Empathy
Mobilization
Promote Democracy
“Six or Seven
Things the News
can do for
Democracy”

21. what if we’ve got civics wrong?

22. law
markets
norms
code

23. law
markets
norms
code

24. cartoon by Peter Steiner

25. code

26. markets

27. normsflickr photo by Sean Davis

28. norms

29. norms

30. norms

31. so what’s our role?

32. law
markets
norms
code

33. Landscape Mapper
we need new tools to understand and
measure how power works today

34. Sources: Mapping Police Violence, Washington Post, Guardian 01/01/2013 - 06/29/2016 (n=333).
MediaCloud articles in the two week period after death, normalized by total MediaCloud article count.
10 observations within 14 days before Michael Brown’s death are omitted.
News articles per unarmed black person killed by US police in the days
surrounding each death, including before & after the death of Michael Brown

35. An unarmed black person killed by US police received 10.5x the incidence
rate of News Articles after Michael Brown’s death from those killed before
Sources: Mapping Police Violence, Washington Post, Guardian 01/01/2013 - 06/29/2016 (n=333).
MediaCloud articles in the two week period after death, normalized by total MediaCloud article count.
NB Model controls for age, gender, and regional population. p=7.84e^-14

36. Among unarmed black people killed by US police, the number of news articles
per person for June 2016 was not significantly different from Jan 2013
Sources: Mapping Police Violence, Washington Post, Guardian 01/01/2013 - 06/29/2016 (n=333).
MediaCloud articles in the two week period after death, normalized by total MediaCloud article count.
NB Model controls for age, gender, and regional population.

37. Articles about an unarmed black person killed by US police received 49.8x
the incidence rate of Total Facebook Shares after Michael Brown’s death
Sources: Mapping Police Violence, Washington Post, Guardian 01/01/2013 - 06/29/2016 (n=333).
Facebook Shares of articles in the two week period after death, normalized by total MediaCloud article
count. NB Model controls for age, gender, and regional population. p=2.56e^-12

38. Articles about an unarmed black person killed by US police received 49.8x
the incidence rate of Total Facebook Shares after Michael Brown’s death
Sources: Mapping Police Violence, Washington Post, Guardian 01/01/2013 - 06/29/2016 (n=333).
Facebook Shares of articles in the two week period after death, normalized by total MediaCloud article
count. NB Model controls for age, gender, regional population, and article count.

40. communicate how power works
celebrate successes
of the new civics
link stories to meaningful action

42. It’s not the public’s job to save journalism.
It might be journalism’s job to save civics.
Saving civics - or,at least,understanding it -
is the first step towards saving journalism.

43. thanks/dank u wel
@ethanz
ethanz@mit.edu
#cjc16