The giant favour social media has done for us

Iapplied for a job last week — the first in a while. The decision led to some reflection on changes I’d seen since I entered the workforce. I started as a junior reporter at APN — now NZME, the publisher of the Herald — in 2012.

After being hired, it took about three months before a round of redundancies was announced. That evolved to rolling layoffs and a stop on new employees for a while.

There was a brief moment of concern regarding my own job before someone more senior explained how things worked. Essentially, cuts and savings weren’t going to be made at the junior end of the pay pool.

Notably, as my level of experience increased, the influence of established media outlets also changed.

I wanted to work at a news outlet that spoke to lots of New Zealanders. Looking back, that broad ambition from my early 20s inspires a cringey smile accompanied by one key question: “What exactly did I mean?”

It is a question I’ve asked numerous times over the years. What qualifies as “lots of New Zealanders” and who fits the demographics of this descriptor?

As a journalist who has worked predominantly in mainstream news spaces, the face that comes to mind is invariably Pa¯keha¯, straight, with a middle-class background. Perhaps that’s because when I started working, that was the overwhelming vibe of the newsroom.

While internal change to address bias is ongoing, I believe one of the more significant influences has come from outside traditional media: social media and the age of internet freedom.

Since the likes of Facebook and Google took hold, there has been an unmissable shift in attitudes around what qualifies as “news” and “public interest”. I’d liken it to change by stealth — particularly when it comes to managing precarious advertising margins and staff resources.

The internet has broadened the ways and spaces different stories and perspectives can be illustrated.

For those of us who have generally been misrepresented — or wholly unrepresented — that shift is comparable to an evening out at the market.

We get to see ourselves in more authentic ways through the perspectives of those who understand us.