Columbia University Holds A Panel Examining Blockchain’s Role In Journalism

As reported by Columbia Journalism Review on October 19th panel

Columbia University Holds A Panel Examining Blockchain’s Role In Journalism

As reported by Columbia Journalism Review on October 19th panel in recap yesterday, the event was entitled as “Blockchain in Journalism: Promise and Practice”.

The Tow Center for Digital Journalism is part of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. The purveyors of the popular Pulitzer Prize. The Tow Center mission statement explained –

“The Tow Center for Digital Journalism explores the ways in which technology is changing journalism, its practice and its consumption – particularly as consumers of news seek ways to judge the reliability, standards and credibility of information.”

With its importance on technological transformation, it comes with no surprise that the Tow Center is eager to discover the relationship between journalism as well as blockchain.

Mia Shuang Li of Columbia Journalism Review notes that the event accumulated a wide range of the spectrum of panellists from the realms of journalism as well as blockchain. The ZigZag podcast’s Manoush Zomorodi and Civil Foundation CEO Vivian Schiller were the central part to this panel –

“Civil functions as a platform supporting many news publications, ZigZag among them, financed by its token the CVL, and was a major topic of discussion as well as a panellist.”

Some other contributors included New York times researcher Nellie Bowles, Forbes head of Product & Tech Salah Zalatimo, Columbia researcher Eran Tromer, and Jarrod Dicker, CEO of Po.et.

Shuang Li explains a series of challenges which blockchain journalism poses. As per the panel, the first challenge is dealing with the relationship between blockchain and crypto. The usual suspects of the stigma incorporate volatility and general reputability.

Another challenge is dealing with the issue of translating the realities of blockchain to the layman. Manoush Zomorodi notes down that his podcast is an extension of this effort.

The final challenge is about the unrefined interfaces which prompt a loss of trust and participation in blockchain-related journalism projects.