What’s Next for Journalism? A Conversation with Journalist Luis Alberto Ferré-Rangel
By Emmalyn Song, ‘22
Photo courtesy of Poynter.org
Media consumption has shifted in the past couple of years, with the oversaturation of news outlets, commodification of news stories, and rise of social media. News outlets are faced with multitudes of challenges, publishing stories every minute, prioritizing clicks, and balancing revenue from digital ads and subscriptions. How do these shifts impact the way journalists approach their work?
I sat down with Luis Alberto Ferré-Rangel, social innovation officer for El Nuevo Dia, the largest newsroom in Puerto Rico. He was the editor of the newspaper’s sister publication Primera Hora for 22 years until he retired from the position in 2018.
As a journalist, Ferré-Rangel feels responsible for informing the public. When asked about the mission of journalists and their newsroom as a whole, he said, “To serve our country by practicing an independent objective, diverse journalism. To uphold the right of people to be well informed. To promote healthy public debate on social issues that matter to us in Puerto Rico.”
He outlined El Nuevo Dia’s top three priorities.
“First, get the news right… Rigor, the thoroughness, the work that every journalist has to go through to make sure that the scoop that they got is verifiable. They have to make sure that the piece of news they have is correct. It sounds obvious, but sometimes the obvious gets misplaced.”
“Second, get it fast… Sometimes speed works against us, so you have to make sure that speed is countered by the fact that you spent time verifying the sources, verifying the news. No need to publish if you feel that the news is not totally solid. That’s a big, big mistake.”
He commented on the drastic changes and speed required to keep up with every new story.
“In the past, when I started as a journalist, I had 24 hours to confirm the news and write a new story. Nowadays we only have seconds, or minutes to publish it. “
Ferré-Rangel emphasized the significance of explaining to the audience why each story is important. Each story needs context; the background, relevance to a particular news cycle, and how it affects the audience going forward.
“And that’s where the best of the reporting comes from … it’s easy to come up with the news fast. It’s harder to get it right, and even harder to explain why this is important to me, as an audience.”
With the influx of newsrooms and commodification of news sources, it is challenging to pose a dominant narrative among all the opposing opinions. Newsrooms themselves have become polarized. He acknowledged the dramatic changes of the journalistic landscape, specifically the “fragmentation of the media.”
“So this fragmentation and what I call ‘atomization’ has really pulled the social fabric apart and communities we serve because you have to see the parts as well as the whole, as a reporter. We’ve focused a lot on reporting on the ‘parts’ and not building that narrative as a community that we need. “
He also highlighted the importance of understanding the social context of changes in the industry.
“I think nowadays, we have to understand the underlying forces of those changes. Not just report the surface, not just how the changes are manifesting. But also reporting on the ‘why are these changes happening?’.”
As the head editor, he was responsible for hiring new reporters. He talked about the qualities he looked for in new hires that encompassed the values of El Nuevo Dia.
“Recruiting journalists that have the grit to stick it out and really do some real reporting, to go through the trouble of real reporting. Not just sit on a computer and work. Get out there and reporters are really interested in what’s happening. The kind of skills we need are, fast thinkers, fast writers, and people that are passionate about what’s happening, and they want to be in the game and report from the frontlines of change.”
Social media has impacted the media, and, according to Ferré-Rangel, the expansive platform has a positive effect on their reach.
“We can write news through any kind of platform nowadays and social media and the digitalization of our content has helped us reach more audiences.”
El Nuevo Dia has the largest circulation in Puerto Rico and the shift to sharing stories online broadened their reach even further.
If you are a brand that is respected as a news medium, you will get promoted on social media because people believe what you are saying or maybe they have an opinion against it and they will use it as a point of contrast. But anyways, your brand is being put out there. Social media, as a source of conversation. Before, without social media, that would not have happened.
“It’s how you play social media and how you use it in your favor as a brand that really defines the game”
When asked about the future of journalism in the wake of all the changes, though, Ferré-Rangel recommends going back to the basics.
“Journalism will always be about telling stories. That’s never gonna change. The way you tell those stories is going to change.”