Reimagining Political Journalism: Perils, Possibilities and What Comes Next

Democratic politics, always combative, has coarsened into a viciousness marked by extremism in rhetoric and tactics. Voting participation continues to decline as much of the electorate turns its back on the process. Those who are politically attentive are too often driven by rage, their anger stoked by party machines, bad faith political actors, and by hysteria and falsehood fed by the algorithms of social media platforms. Increasingly, what the public knows about the partisan theatre comes from partisan sources.

Meanwhile, political journalism is mutating. Even as the numbers of political reporters dwindle, and the reach and stature of the traditional news media diminish, the news media are themselves vilified by politicians eager to undermine the credibility and authority of the press. In this unforgiving environment, a generation of journalists who have come of age in the twilight of the legacy media is attempting to chart a fresh course for conscientious political coverage and commentary, looking for new ways to engage and inform a rational public in the service of democratic governance.

Join us in a conversation about the prospects for political journalism, and for democracy, in this changed partisan and media environment. Reimagining Political Journalism: Perils, Possibilities, and What Comes Next draws together journalists working in the front lines of political coverage, faculty and students in post-secondary schools of Journalism, the academic community and members of the public to wrestle with the question of what democracy now requires of political journalism, what next-generation political journalism should look like, and how to best prepare students for careers as political journalists in these new circumstances.

The event will be held on Saturday, November 16 and Sunday, November 17 on the second floor of Richcraft Hall, Carleton University.

The conference is being organized by the Carleton University School of Journalism and Communication in partnership with The Hill Times, the Canadian Association of Journalists, the Public Policy Forum, the University of King’s College, Toronto Metropolitan University, L’Université du Québec à Montréal, the University of British Columbia, Carleton University’s Office of the Vice President (Research) and Office of the Dean of Public and Global Affairs, the Canadian Media Guild, Communications Workers of America (CWA) Canada, Abacus Data, and Summa Strategies. The conference is principally funded by a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) Connections grant.

In person registration will be limited by space. Once we reach capacity, we will run a waitlist for in-person attendance. Those who cannot attend in person will be able to follow the conference live via YouTube and should register to receive the link to the livestream.

Three Carleton Journalism students will form a news team that will cover every aspect of the event, generating media content that will be shared in real time on our website and through the School of Journalism and Communication’s social media platforms. The conference will also generate and share an annotated bibliography.