Steve Katz and Trent Seibertdiscuss the future of journalismat Presbyterian College

Last week I had the pleasure of speaking at Presbyterian College in Clinton, S.C., about the future of journalism and about the work we do at Texas Watchdog.

I was there as part of college’s annual Russell-Lanier Symposium on Media and Technology along with Steve Katz, the publisher of Mother Jones magazine. Steve mentioned during our presentations that the landscape of journalism is changing and there are great opportunities -- and challenges -- ahead.

Steve and I had a great back-and-forth, talking about investigative reporting and the decline of enterprise reporting in traditional newspaper journalism.

From the college’s write-up of the event:

A self-described “newspaper guy” with years’ experience breaking news on government corruption, Seibert said he started Texas Watchdog by making a proposal to a foundation to fund a digital publishing venture that specializes in “accountability journalism.”

 

“I like following the money,” he said. “… Basically, I don’t trust anyone in power.”

Seibert admitted that he didn’t know if non-profit journalism has staying power but believes it is a viable stopgap until new models evolve. His greatest hope, he said, is an army of citizen-journalists who keep those in power in check.

“Every one of you is a potential media powerhouse,” he said, pulling out his camera phone. “You can become your own media empire. This gives give you tremendous power and, believe me, it scares the people in power.”

 

Katz said small operations like Mother Jones and Texas Watchdog also can network with larger media operations to get important stories read by wider audiences.