Journalists widely agree that journalism should serve the society in an ethical and responsible way. However, sometimes journalistic processes create unintended negative consequences, such as stigmatization, exclusion, polarization or unproportioned negative bias. As a result, audiences can feel that journalism is unable to sustain fair and constructive discussion and therefore turn away from journalism. To avoid this, we suggest advancing the aspect of social responsibility in journalism.
The forum wants to bring together people to share and learn from each other about working methods, concepts and evaluative measures of socially responsible journalism. The forum is therefore an umbrella for discussing and drawing from various journalism forms, such as public, constructive, solutions, inclusive and conciliatory journalism, but it is not adhered to any specific approach nor publishing platform.
The purpose of this forum is to
- discuss the relationship between traditional and newer forms of journalism
- explore ways to practice socially responsible journalism and share ideas
- build knowledge about the societal effects of different kinds of reporting
- act as a space for reflection and inspiration for Nordic journalists and researchers.
Some of the keywords inspiring the establishment of the forum are depolarization, inclusion, mediation, constructiveness, diversity, social dialogue and empathy. The forum is based at Tampere University in Finland.
The forum meets online via zoom. About once a month or so, we organize free 20-minute online talks and discussions. Our events usually last about an hour, and poeple may join for the talk only, or stay for the discussion part, too. Before each talk, we will send out a zoom link via email or on this website under “Event“. Videos of the past talks you can find under “News“.
Welcome!