Chapter 4
Why Do We Need To Learn, Unlearn and Relearn New Skills?
“Critical thinking is the key to success in life, and media literacy is its essential companion.” – Renee Hobbs
Why Do We Need To Learn, Unlearn and Relearn New Skills?
Source: https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/news/media-leaders-must-keep-learning-here-are-five-principles-guide-your-own-learning-and-ensure
Lifelong Learning: Essential for Journalists
In a rapidly evolving industry, media leaders face mounting responsibilities that often leave little room for personal and professional growth. Amidst these challenges, ongoing learning is essential to stay relevant and innovative. Professor Lucy Kueng, a senior research associate at the Reuters Institute, outlines five key principles for prioritising and structuring learning, encouraging leaders to embrace continuous development and foster a culture of growth within their teams. Here’s a summary of her guidance:
- Prioritise Learning : Treat learning as a transformative investment for yourself, your team, and your organization. Make it a consistent habit, focus on immediate needs, and engage with accessible resources like podcasts or newsletters before advancing to deeper materials. Even short, daily sessions can yield significant progress.
- Challenge Assumptions as You Advance : Moving beyond improving existing processes, leaders must engage in “second-order learning”—questioning core assumptions and reshaping paradigms. This involves unlearning outdated ideas, seeking diverse perspectives, and stepping outside familiar contexts to unlock breakthrough insights.
- Foster a Culture of Learning : Leaders should cultivate an environment where growth is integral to daily work. This includes exposing teams to industry shifts, encouraging frequent feedback, and turning setbacks into opportunities for group reflection and improvement. Simultaneously, individuals should take personal responsibility for their development, leveraging learning as a career and life accelerator.
- Adopt a Structured Approach : Building a strategic learning framework is crucial. Focus on a mix of topics—an industry issue, a broader trend, and a practical skill—while layering learning materials progressively. Synthesize and apply knowledge in real-world scenarios, deepening your understanding through focused exploration or even creating structured outputs, like writing.
- Step Outside Comfort Zones: Growth happens when you push boundaries. Engage with leaders from other industries, immerse yourself in unfamiliar settings, and explore innovative ideas that challenge the status quo. This ensures your learning remains dynamic and impactful.
By embracing these principles, media leaders can remain agile, innovative, and equipped to navigate an ever-changing landscape while inspiring their teams to do the same.
Broader Implications for Journalism
Ideological Complexities: A world of over 8 billion people, including 2.1 billion children under 14 (25 percent) of the global population according to 2023 World Bank data), presents an astronomical array of beliefs and attitudes to consider.
Psychological Struggles: Cognitive limitations and biases compromise journalists’ ability to maintain neutrality and objectivity in their reporting.
Genetic Constraints: The human brain’s limitations in processing large-scale data at lightning speeds add another layer of difficulty for journalists navigating the digital ecosystem.
By addressing these multifaceted challenges, journalists can better fulfill their role as purveyors of truth and advocates for democratic values in an increasingly complex and digitally dominated world.
The digitally disruptive era of the multiplatform society presents both challenges and opportunities for journalism. While the expansion of unverified information and the erosion of public trust pose significant threats, they also underscore the urgent need for a new approach to journalism that prioritises media literacy, critical thinking, ethical reporting, and technological innovation. By addressing these issues head-on, journalism can continue to serve as a vital pillar of democracy, ensuring that citizens are equipped with the relevant skills to navigate the complexities of the modern information landscape. This, in turn, will lead to the creation of a more informed, engaged, and resilient society, capable of upholding the principles of transparency, accountability, and justice that are essential for the functioning of healthy and corruption-free democracies.
Redefining journalism in the multiplatform society calls for a thorough understanding of the relationship between journalism and audiences. Encountered by the proliferation of unverified information which tends to crowd out a mix of news stories, feature articles, editorials, business, financial and sports news, interviews and others. The modern journalist, in a renewed commitment to fulfilling their responsibilities, must uphold traditional principles such as accuracy, timeliness, transparency, impartiality, fairness, and independence, while also embracing innovation to adapt to the evolving demands of their audience. By doing so, journalism can regain its role as a cornerstone of democracy, fostering an informed and engaged citizenry capable of making decisions in the public interest. This transformation is not without its challenges, as it requires a fundamental shift in how journalism is practiced, consumed, and understood.
The contentious issue of audiences deserting traditional journalism to embrace unproven content passed off as “news” has become a global dilemma, encouraged by the rise of social media and mobile technology.
This shift has led to a public that is often blind and uncritical in its engagement with journalism, posing significant challenges to the integrity of democratic societies. The erosion of trust in traditional media, coupled with the allure of easily accessible, algorithm-driven content on platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok, has created an environment where misinformation and disinformation thrive.
This phenomenon is not merely a technological issue but a societal one, reflecting deeper changes in how information is consumed, shared, and interpreted. The democratisation of content creation, while empowering in some respects, has also led to the dilution of journalistic standards, as anyone with a smartphone can disseminate information without the rigorous fact-checking and ethical considerations that professional journalism demands.
This has resulted in a fragmented media landscape where credible journalism and sensationalist content are increasingly jumbled, making it difficult for audiences to discern the truth from falsehood. The impact is profound, influencing not just public discourse but also the core principles of democracy, where an informed citizenry is crucial for holding authorities accountable and upholding transparency in governance.
The rise of “fake news,” conspiracy theories, and echo chambers has further amplified the dilemma, as algorithms prioritise engagement over accuracy, creating feedback loops that reinforce existing biases and polarise societies.
In this context, the role of journalism must be revised to address these challenges and reclaim its position as a trusted source of information. This requires a multi-faceted approach that includes not only adapting to new technologies but also fostering media literacy among the public to equip them with the critical thinking skills necessary to navigate the complex information ecosystem.
Media literacy education should be integrated into school curricula and public awareness campaigns, emphasising the importance of verifying sources, understanding bias, and recognising the hallmarks of credible journalism. Journalists, too, must adapt by embracing transparency in their reporting processes, engaging with audiences in meaningful ways, and leveraging technology to enhance, rather than undermine, the quality of their work.
Collaborative efforts between media organisations, educational institutions, and technology companies are essential to develop tools and platforms that promote accurate information and counteract the spread of misinformation. Furthermore, regulatory frameworks must be updated to address the unique challenges posed by digital platforms, ensuring that they are held accountable for the content they host while safeguarding freedom of expression.
However, the stakes are too high to ignore, as the health of democracies around the world depends on the ability of journalism to adapt and thrive in the face of digital disruption.