The main focus of this discussion was the impact of the media as a force for social good, and many issues were raised. There are many expectations on the media to serve as a force for change. However, the media can only change opinions or perspectives, which may not translate into direct tangible changes.

Early on into the discussion, the issue of objectivity in news reporting was raised. True objectivity in any news reporting can only be deemed a myth, as the newsmaker selects which facts to use, how to write up a news article, how to frame a picture, and eventually how the story is told. Avoiding an inherent bias on the part of the newsmaker is impossible, making true objectivity a non-issue.

Objectivity as a concept in itself is also flexible depending on the opinion leader of media ethics nowadays. A suggestion made on remaining as objective as possible by presenting both sides of an issue and leaving the viewer to decide on a point of view was viewed as insufficient.

Although fairness is possible with all sides of an issue being presented, people only pay attention to those with opinions on any issue; hence the media have a more important task of balancing the personalities and viewpoints of opinion leaders rather than just presenting the facts. True objectivity is impossible, but it is important that the media know where they stand on any issue.

Another key issue raised during the discussion was whether people only want bad news. Bad news has an advantage of being easy to report, while good news take artistry to tell. However, what sells newspapers is not either bad or good news; rather it is the “dramatic” value of news.

A more sceptical viewpoint was that editors are only interested in news that involves “scandals” or “charities”. The charge is levelled at editors as gatekeepers of papers, saying that they are not sophisticated enough to want news that is neither scandalous nor involving “charities”.

It was conceded that it would be possible to get an editor to run a story, but only if one engaged with the editor for an extended period of time with enough persistence.

Organizations are incentive and profit driven, and they have to balance the bottom line. Advertising is needed to survive, and to encourage advertising, they have to report news that people read.

The impact of advertising affecting the “objectivity” of the paper can be reduced by avoiding “junket” trips, in which companies sponsor all expenses needed to cover an event, by relegating advertising to advertorial sections, and by reserving the right to report a story any way a paper wants as long as it has the story on its own.

Even for films, having a single big sponsor is avoided as it can impact the creative direction of the films. Audiences now are generally more sophisticated and averse to hard-sell messages and obvious product placements.

Media time is expensive as there are too many requests everyday for it; hence, it has to be sold to the highest bidder. Its effectiveness as an outlet for social change is questionable due to the high cost, and the only way to make the media buy a story is to package it so that it will be interesting to them—by adding a newsworthy dimension to it.

People who want to use the media to publicize an issue also have to strategize pitching their stories to the right media. Rather than attempting to pitch it to any media they can find, they have to consider the niche market of the media and whom it serves before deciding if they want to publicize it in that media. They have to make the traditional media work for them.

Citizen journalism was touted as a possible channel for using media as a force for social good, as the barrier of entry is lower and it has a wide reach. Especially in the area of filmmaking, more people are now posting their content on Youtube to impart information to others in a format that was not the traditional narrated documentary.

Workshops for journalists were also viewed as increasingly important in the future, as journalists need to get familiar with new and emerging concepts like social entrepreneurship, corporate social responsibility and the green movement and what they entail.

People who have a gift for story-telling, while being a little idealistic, are needed in journalism now, as the standards are dropping because more unethical journalists enter the profession. Unethical journalists are people who manipulate situations to get the angle they want, e.g., by paying people to riot or inciting a crowd to get a certain reaction.

The workshop was ended with a conclusion that media cannot shape society if people do not participate, hence indirectly, people deserve the media they get.