Marie K. Shanahan, the head of the UConn Journalism Department, spoke about the future of journalism on June 25 at The Westport Library at an event sponsored by the Connecticut Mirror.
Prof. Shanahan, who soon will be teaching a new course on news literacy that will be open to non-journalism majors, said the internet is a free-for-all, so each person has to be sure they are skeptical of the news people are sharing on social media.
"You are responsible for your information diet," she said. "You need to be a good critical thinker."
Professor Shanahan, who soon will be teaching a new course on news literacy that will be open to non-journalism majors, said the internet is a free-for-all, so each person has to be sure they are skeptical of the news people are sharing on social media.
"You are responsible for your information diet," she said. "You need to be a good critical thinker."
Professor Shanahan pointed out a recent study that found that states with a higher concentration of local journalists had a lower level of loneliness among its residents. She said new outlets could respond by writing more human interest feature stories in their communities to connect readers.
"We're all so isolated, looking at our phones..., so maybe that's a good selling point for local news," she said.
The conversation was moderated by John Dankosky, the CT Mirror's director of events, and it featured Richard Tofel, the founding general manager of ProPublica, who served as the news organization’s president from 2013 to 2021.
The CT Mirror and ProPublica recently won the Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting for their series on predatory towing practices in Connecticut.
The complete discussion, moderated by John Dankosky and sponsored by the Connecticut Mirror, is available to watch on