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# Making incredible journalism from the past and the present
- URL: https://onemanandhisblog.com/2015/10/making-incredible-journalism-from-the-past-and-the-present/
- Published: 2015-10-18T18:44:34.000Z
- Updated: 2015-10-18T18:45:42.000Z
- Author: Adam Tinworth
- Tags: beth ashton, digital journalism, interhacktives, Journalism

Here’s a tweet that cheers me immensely:

> Core message for journalism on social media says [@BethAshton](https://twitter.com/BethAshton?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=onemanandhisblog.com) [#NewslabMCR](https://twitter.com/hashtag/NewslabMCR?src=hash&ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=onemanandhisblog.com) [pic.twitter.com/DLI7fJLtjT](http://t.co/DLI7fJLtjT?ref=onemanandhisblog.com)
> 
> — Alison Gow (@alisongow) [October 16, 2015](https://twitter.com/alisongow/status/655047183532728320?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=onemanandhisblog.com)

[Beth Ashton](https://twitter.com/BethAshton?ref=onemanandhisblog.com) – who created the slide – is a former student of mine. She was one of the very first generation of [Interhacktives](http://www.interhacktives.com/?ref=onemanandhisblog.com) I taught at [City](https://www.city.ac.uk/courses/postgraduate/interactive-journalism?ref=onemanandhisblog.com) back in 2012 and 2013\. I don’t think she’ll mind me saying her talent wasn’t immediately visible in the lecture room – but, my goodness, did it shine through when I marked her first piece of assigned work.

Her skill in combining social media and journalism has led her to a rapidly rising career, and she’s now the (highly successful) [social media editor of the *Manchester Evening News*](http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/authors/beth-ashton/?ref=onemanandhisblog.com).

And you know what? She’s *exactly* right about this. Too many people on either side of journalism’s digital divide talk as if traditional, print-centric journalism and online journalism are completely operate things – a venn diagram with no overlap, if you like. And that’s complete nonsense – disinformation spread by the politically-minded or the afraid.

We’re in the midst of a long process of separating what are the characteristics of good journalism, from the characteristics of good *print* journalism, and then discovering how they’re best expressed through a new, complicated and ever-changing medium. And that’s an exciting challenge. Hard? Sure. But that’s part of what make sit exciting.

But there’s still a core of commonality that we mustn’t lose sight of.

\[[via David Higgerson](https://davidhiggerson.wordpress.com/2015/10/18/a-powerpoint-slide-to-knock-the-old-v-new-journalism-argument-down-for-good-i-hope-so/?ref=onemanandhisblog.com), who applied this to local journalism – but I think it’s a wider issue than that.\]