Discovery & Enrichment Series: “Trust Me – I’m a Journalist!” The fall – and rise – of the American news business

Journalism is in trouble: traditional business models have withered or collapsed, and the public’s trust has sunk to record lows. Social and political fragmentation, the rise of social media, and generational and technological change (including the growing use of generative AI) all play a role, and the crisis threatens to erode a cornerstone of our democracy. This conversation will explore what went wrong and chart a possible path forward.

About the Presenter

Andrew Heyward, who lives in Woodstock VT and Chatham, is a nationally known news executive, award-winning broadcast news producer, and expert on the changing media landscape.

Andrew currently advises local TV stations on digital strategy and video storytelling. He is also a senior advisor at the Center for Constructive Communication at MIT, where he works at the intersection of technology, including generative AI, and journalism.

As a Research Professor at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University, Andrew completed a 3½ year project writing about innovation in local television news for the Knight-Cronkite News Lab. He then published "Beyond Objectivity: Producing Trustworthy News in Today’s Newsrooms," a research paper co-written with former Washington Post executive editor Leonard Downie Jr., featuring guidelines to restore and strengthen journalism’s credibility.

Heyward was President of CBS News from January 1996-November 2005. Before that, he was executive producer of The CBS Evening News, developed and launched the weekly primetime program 48 Hours, and held other positions at CBS News. He started out in broadcast journalism right out of college, working his way up over nine years at two local TV newsrooms in New York City.

Heyward is a magna cum laude graduate of Harvard with a degree in History and Literature.