The journalist as a modern day Robin Hood
By Amalie Kestler, editor in chief, Politiken
This year marks 60 years since Bob Dylan’s world tour laid bare a collision between the press of the era and a man who had become famous at breakneck speed. At a series of now-famous, elusive press conferences around the concerts, the young musician – his hair growing ever wilder – was heckled by reporters from Stockholm to Paris. With microphones and cameras, they asked Dylan to explain the changes of the time.
The protagonist described himself as a ‘song and dance-man,’ but he refused to sing or dance to the choreography the press had drawn up.
Journalist: Is there anything you can be certain of?
Bob Dylan: I’m certain that ash, door handles and windowpanes exist.
Dylan refused to be the person the press could turn to for definitions and explanations of the moment. And as washing machines were installed in private homes, it was as if the flow of information, too, had been tossed into the drum of modern technology. The spin cycle sped up. Everything moved faster and grew bigger.
It wasn’t only the power of the stars that grew as artists, politicians, athletes and all manner of others were hoisted onto the mass media’s new pedestal. The press’s own power expanded as well. After all, the media controlled the channels of information, television moved into living rooms, and newspaper circulation rose.
But where there is power, there is also the risk of abusing it. And of course there were media figures and journalists who were more enamored of power and reach than of their public mission. The search for truth was joined by the appetite to grow still larger: higher ratings, more readers, more clicks.
By 2026, it can feel as though the whole machine is spinning out of control: social media, visuals and testimonials flood endless feeds where attention itself has become a marketable commodity. Yet this new media reality is one that editorial media must learn to navigate without losing their credibility or their values.
World News Day, when news outlets around the world focus on the importance of trustworthy journalism is a good occasion to ask a more fundamental question: What, exactly, should journalism offer the citizen in today’s media landscape?
Perhaps it is time, quite simply, to renew the contract between the citizen and the journalist.
The social value of journalism today lies to a large extent in helping citizens step off the feed. It means slowing the pace of the information stream or, to stay with the metaphor, slowing the wheel so that all of us have a better chance to understand, digest and engage actively with the world.
In 1966, journalists wanted Bob Dylan to explain the world. Today, millions of people across millions of feeds are competing every day to capture our attention with their own version of that explanation.
In a new contract between citizens and journalists, the journalist should see themselves as a kind of Robin Hood of the attention economy. Not by stealing from the rich to give to the poor, but by reclaiming some of the power to define reality from those who have the money, technology and political influence to capture our attention. And by helping give it back to us through more encounters with reality, more quality time and a better chance to understand the world.
In today’s information-saturated society, we need help sorting. Finding what matters – or what those in power are trying to hide from us. Where the press once was largely about being ‘first with the latest,’ today it is even more about being best at figuring out what ‘the latest’ actually means.
In other words, the press must turn time under pressure into time well spent by giving those of us exhausted by the speed of modern life a chance to step off without opting out. A chance to slow down, reflect, become informed and breathe. To create time for thought and space for action, shaped by knowledge, scrutiny and perspective. It is, in many ways, a familiar role for the press, but one transformed by a new technological landscape.
Free and independent journalism is under political and technological pressure all over the world. But that does not change the fact that journalistic methods and editorial principles remain an important path to credible information about current events at a time when the volume of information is out of control and many people want to impose their own agenda.
That is precisely why we need, more than ever, a free press to offer alternatives to the stream of lies, scams and propaganda that any of us can fall victim to. And that is the message that more than 1,000 media outlets from 110 countries are uniting to push through the information maelstrom on World News Day:
Remember that there is a fundamental difference between platforms that are never held accountable for the content they flood us with and editor-led news media built on facts, fairness and nuance.
If credible journalism is to survive, more people must choose to stay informed through trusted news outlets to listen, read, watch and, where possible, subscribe to reporting grounded in scrutiny, rigour and independence. In return, we as journalists must make every effort to help people reclaim greater control over their own time.
So here is the new contract: if you give us some of your time, we promise to give it back to you in better shape.
