With journalism as a profession undergoing an intense period of upheaval and self-reflection, Grapevine Events, in conjunction with the Frontline Club, brought together some of the industry’s most prominent editors on Thursday 11 September to discuss the major issues affecting journalism today.

Bringing out the big guns @amolrajan @AlexGAMiller @emmatimes2 #ftf Ian Hislop's looking for more @frontlineclub pic.twitter.com/VHe638Cvgi

— Rebecca Choong Wilkins 钟碧琪 (@RChoongWilkins) September 11, 2014

Asking the panel what preoccupied them each morning, former deputy editor of The Times and chair George Brock remarked that what remained central to an editor seemed as true today as it was 30 years ago.

Emma Tucker, deputy editor of The Times, spoke of her desire to continually come up with the story that would “make a difference” whilst focusing on maintaining and expanding readership.

“In this noise, ultimately what makes people read you is good, original journalism that impacts people.”

For both Amol Rajan, editor of The Independent and Alex Miller, editor-in-chief of VICE, despite the emergence of new news formats, what drives any news organisation remains fundamentally “timeless”, as Brock put it, with the success of any story based primarily on the brilliance and commitment of the journalist who produces it.

With traditional news titles seen as occupying a difficult position inside–outside the establishment, Ian Hislop, editor of Private Eye, challenged that while journalists are often perceived as part of the old boys’ club, and by extension any way into the profession is one based on patronage, this proximity was ultimately the necessary price paid for access.

“What we try to do is say: we know how this works, we know the people who are there, let’s tell the truth . . . and the more people you know the more people who tell you things.”

“That being said,” commented Miller, “the only reason I am on this panel, is precisely because we [at VICE] have made the most of being entirely outside the establishment. Going and doing stuff that grey guys from BBC and ITV and Channel 4 have been doing for a very long time but changing it and presenting it on new media, in a slightly different tone. It’s made people pay attention – which really is the benefit of being an outsider.”

Elaborating on how the tone of emerging news outlets, such as VICE, had attracted and engaged a new demographic, Miller spoke of challenging “a collective decision that news was the preserve of a certain type of person, who wore certain type of clothes and who spoke in a certain type of way”.

“I think by just presenting news as you would have a conversation with a friend has actually managed to break down more barriers that we ever thought we would and at the same time disprove some bullshit that the establishment had all collectively agreed that young people didn’t give a crap about what happened outside their own lives.”

Moving from journalism as part of the establishment to establishing a community of readers, there was a general agreement amongst the panel that news was a product which should ultimately be paid for in some form (as it has always traditionally been).

While for Tucker and The Times paywall model, the concept of readers has now literally shifted to a point where “we don’t have readers anymore . . . we have members”. For Rajan, the “nostalgia around the history of Fleet Street” and specifically the role of local newspapers in the community belies the changing nature of the way people identify and define themselves as consumers of news.

“In the digital age there is a kind of unbundling. Now people are promiscuous buyers [whereas once you would have people loyal to one title]. The idea behind membership is to try to rebuild that attachment to a particular institution.

“Possibly the most viable future for most newspapers to go down is the model where you pay online, because actually one way of creating membership is to create customers and if you get people to pay for what you do, you create a sense of engagement and commitment.”

Until people restore the link between quality journalism and paying for it, Rajan continued, that sense of community is going to be fractured. If you are a company which is ultimately trying to hit the bottom line you need to establish a bond between customers and product.

Amol Rajan: 'There is no editorial solution to the commercial problems of papers' #ftf @frontlineclub

— Harriet Line (@HarriLine) September 11, 2014

For Hislop, the very act of buying a copy of Private Eye is like belonging to a club.

“Eye readers are a people with a particular attitude and a particular desire and I like the idea of them. I think they form their own club.”

However, while Miller agreed that creating a community was important, the debate within traditional news organisations into how best build this community is ultimately outmoded. “The internet does that on its own.”

Alex Hern of The Guardian commented that these technological advancements, which have so disrupted the practice and organisation of journalism, have also shifted the way in which we communicate.

“It is really important to remember that our generation is the first one ever where writing and the written word has been the primary way of communicating. We are more comfortable than ever before expressing ourselves, not just in considered journalism, but in every register of written language.”

Surely a development which can ultimately only benefit journalism and the industry.

Richard Gizbert talks to Alex Miller, Milène Larsson and Aris Roussinos of VICE News

The disruptive and unconventional news model of VICE News was a fitting topic for the night that the Frontline Club unveiled their slightly longer, disruptive and exciting ‘Showcase’ evening on Wednesday 30 April.

In a mixture of debate, film and discussion, the audience were treated to two different segments on the ‘changing news landscape’ and the advent of VICE’s new news channel.

Richard Gizbert, presenter of Al Jazeera English’s The Listening Post, chaired the evening that started by sitting down with Alex Miller, Milène Larsson and Aris Roussinos from VICE, to discuss how they are changing the way news is delivered and to show some clips of their online documentaries.

Gizbert asked the team why VICE is different and how is it proving so successful, Miller, VICE’s editor in chief replied:

“When we started people said that online video had to be cats pissing around in baths. We did the exact opposite and made long-form documentaries. The interesting thing is that it was the serious stuff that was getting the most passionate support. We’ve been nudged towards it by watching the things our viewers are interested in.”

https://twitter.com/ClippetNews/status/461797710866051072/photo/1

As a journalist who freelanced for the BBC and Channel 4 before he became a reporter at VICE News, Roussinos commented that “one thing that makes me pretty happy working at VICE is that I’ve got pretty much absolute editorial freedom. Because we can have a longer format on the internet, we are not hemmed in by runtimes. There is a thirst for knowledge – why not feed it?”

“There is a little bit of a myth or a hype going on. [These documentaries] are something Reuters could have done, or Unreported World – I can’t see you’re doing anything different. Is it really the case that people come to your site because they have lost faith in the mainstream media?” filmmaker Sean Langan pointed out from the audience.  There was also concern from the audience that the documentaries lacked context, in particular geo-political context.

After a brief hiatus of drinks in the members’ clubroom courtesy of Chivas Brothers, the second part of the evening got underway.

Richard Sambrook, professor of journalism and director at the Centre for Journalism; Kevin Sutcliffe, VICE head of news production for Europe; Richard James, news editor of BuzzFeed UK; and Tom Giles, editor of the BBC’s Panorama, joined Gizbert to discuss the broader subject of the changing media landscape.

Giles pointed out that the BBC will probably be looking to places like VICE for tips going forward, especially with BBC Three being taken off air: “BBC Three will still go on online, and I’m not an expert, but can’t imagine they won’t turn to people like VICE and want to know how they can inform the whole online younger audience landscape.”

Sambrook raised the concern that VICE and other online outlets have not had any crises yet, and a test will be how they can survive them.

Sutcliffe, who had previously been Channel 4’s Dispatches editor pointed out that:

“It’s all virgin territory to us, we are just finding our way – we’re not trying to reinvent the wheel, we’re doing good content we are spending money on that content. We think it’s an opportunity to try and grow a network that works, one that doesn’t have to take its model from legacy media – it doesn’t have to be invested in.”

Gizbert asked James what it is like to come from a print background (as a journalist at Metro and The Daily Mail) to a solely online medium. “It is fantastic. There is so much more freedom and creativity not having to chase the daily news agenda,” he replied.

“In a terrible way, we are prisoners of our form,” said Giles, talking about legacy media. “The reason [online only] is liberating is because you don’t need to worry about how is it going to fit on the channel, or how is it going to get marketed at 8:30pm on BBC One. By the time we’ve got the money and the commission, you’ve already put it out there in a new form in a new landscape”

“But at what moment when other people pop up to do the same thing, and when the competition starts, and it really starts to crunch,” he added.

Watch or listen back here:

Showcase is a new event that incorporates the best of Frontline: compelling debate, inquisitive film, insightful discussion, thought-provoking surroundings, stimulating company and refreshing beverages. The evenings will feature two sessions of film or discussion with a break between when you will be welcomed into the members’ clubroom. Here you can meet your fellow audience members and enjoy a drink courtesy of Chivas Brothers.

For the first in the series we will be exploring the newly launched VICE News. The evening will begin by looking at the content they are producing. A panel of VICE News journalists will present and discuss their work.

Following the break we will be bringing together journalists and editors from VICE News and other more established news outlets to discuss the changing news landscape and the place for new platforms and styles of reporting.

Both sessions will be chaired by Richard Gizbert, presenter of The Listening Post on Al Jazeera English.

An Introduction to VICE News with:

Aris Roussinos, producer and host at VICE News. He was awarded the Rory Peck Award for News in November 2013 for his VICE film Ground Zero: Mali. He is currently writing a book about his experiences with rebel armies, which will be published by Random House later this year.

Milène Larsson, producer and host at VICE News. She has been working for VICE for almost a decade. Previously European managing editor, she now primarily produces and hosts news documentaries, such as the award winning Israel’s Radical Left, Istanbul Rising and Young and Gay in Putin’s Russia. She also helped produce the Emmy nominated VICE series on HBO.

Alex Miller is the editor in chief at VICE, and has recently presented and produced investigative news documentaries on the violent protests in Caracas, the fallout of the economic crisis in Greece, as well as video interviews with Clive Stafford Smith and Slavoj Žižek.

The Changing News Landscape with:

Richard Sambrook, professor of journalism and director at the Centre for Journalism, Cardiff University. He is a former director of Global News at the BBC where he worked as a journalist for 30 years as a producer, editor and manager.

Kevin Sutcliffe, VICE head of news production for Europe and former editor of Channel 4’s Dispatches.

Richard James is the news editor of BuzzFeed UK. He was previously the deputy online editor at Metro. Prior to that, he was the technology editor and SEO Executive at Metro. He has also worked at Daily Mail Online and Inthenews.co.uk.

Tom Giles, editor of BBC current affairs programme, Panorama. He joined the BBC in 1991 on World Service Radio and went on to work on the Nine O’clock News, Newsnight, Panorama, Horizon and, for Current Affairs, on series such as BBC2’s Andrew Marr’s History of Modern Britain, Hooligans, The White Season, BBC Three’s Women, Weddings War and Me, and BBC factual drama development.