London Press Club holds media debate on whether traditional media still has clout

Journalists and commentators discussed whether traditional media still has “clout” in the digital world at The London Press Club’s media debate this week.

Panel guests joined debate chair Will Gore to offer their views at the annual debate in Stationer’s Hall.

They navigated how social media has taken flight for storytelling and the salient influence traditional media holds.

The panellists discussed the Post Office scandal and the Mr Bates vs The Post Office TV series.

“Through a TV series, people found compassion and were able to connect where they couldn’t through traditional media,” panel speaker and Television journalist Elizabeth Filippouli said.Ahead of the debate, Mr Gore introduced to the hall, Filippouli, former editor of the Sunday Mirror Paul Connew, Executive Director of the Society of Editors Dawn Alford and award winning journalist and mentor of young journalists Abbianca Nassar.

Evening Standard journalist David Cohen was also on the panel as he reflected on investigative work he has been involved in. This included an investigation into knife violence and youth crime that saw him work on the ground in Glasgow. A whole host of reports that followed eventually led to City Hall announcing the first London Violence Reduction Unit.

Mr Cohen said: “I was thinking back on three stories like that which stood out to me and I wondered if the way I’d gone about them had changed in the age of digital media …  But I suppose these stories can’t be done through TikTok or Facebook. So I don’t think the Post Office scandal proves that traditional media doesn’t have a role, because actually, that employed one of the great things about good investigation which is immersion and storytelling.”

Ms Filippouli discussed the importance of traditional media, and argued that reporters should be adapting to media progression: “I believe in the clout of traditional media and I think it’s a matter of building on that clout. The world has changed and we’re living in a different era than we were, say, 20, 30, 40 years ago.”

Ms Nassar echoed some of these thoughts on adapting: “Young journalists sometimes have to depend on social media. I mean it’s where some of my most powerful stories came from. I was going down a sort of rabbit hole of liking posts and tweets and engaging with people - and before you know it, that itself becomes that story because you have access to the latest information everyone is talking about … So we really need to think about how we can build that social media presence and engage with young people, because that’s what [traditional media] is up against.”

Other members on the panel discussed the importance of traditional media before a Q&A wrapped up the event. Questions were asked about handling information, along with how young journalist’s are contributing to change in the media scene.

Guests were invited to take part in networking following the event.