Though journalism’s worth cannot be simply measured in tragic numbers. 

 

To Financial Times Editor Lionel Barber, beyond the battlefields of burgeoning democracies, journalism still matters. 

 

To the crowd of seasoned journalists gathered for the inaugural Media Standards Trust discussion on the continuing importance of news media, this may not have sounded like much of a revelation. But within this oft repeated narrative of journalism’s role in open societies, there lay a gold-encrusted plan of action. 

 

 

There was talk of journalism’s knighted position in plural democracies and the occasional obligatory Walter Lippmann quote about watchdogs and searchlights.

 

Though platitudes aside, Barber only hit his stride when sliding into the relative comforts of business metaphors. For Barber, it is of no use bemoaning the Internet's impending news media market domination; “that time has already come.”

 

Instead, a veritable putsch is needed. 

 

For one, the Internet too has a cost. For all the relative positives of citizen journalism, opinion marauding as fact poses serious social consequences.

 

And here, at the locus of this paradigm shift, is where the modern value of quality news journalism can be found. Yet as any student of economics will admit, with quality service comes a price.

 

“The biggest mistake we have made is buying into the idea, started by a few rocket scientists in Silicon Valley, that journalism should be free.”

 

 

Of course, shifting costs to consumers is great in theory Mr. Barber but what of the younger generations who have grown accustomed to free information?

 

It is about building brand loyalty “and convincing people that online media and print media are complimentary.”

 

Ideological as it sounds, he may have a point. After all, despite residing at the eye of the recent financial storm and plying his trade in one of the most vulnerable sectors, Barber remains optimistic. 

 

“People are living longer!”

 

For all the talk of pragmatism, it seems there may be room for a bit of belief after all.