Building a resilient free press for the future. Building a resilient
free press for the future.

The Problem

RESURGENT POPULISM BROKEN BUSINESS MODELS TOXIC MEDIA POLICY THE ATTENTION ECONOMY SENSORY OVERLOAD

We live in a culture of exploitation.

Can the free press fulfill its function in these conditions?

Group 6 Created with Sketch. THE ATTENTION ECONOMY RESURGENT POPULISM SENSORY OVERLOAD BROKEN BUSINESS MODELS TOXIC MEDIA POLICY

We live in a culture of exploitation.

Can the free press fulfill its function in these conditions?

Group Created with Sketch. RESURGENT POPULISM SENSORY OVERLOAD TOXIC MEDIA POLICY BROKEN BUSINESS MODELS THE ATTENTION ECONOMY

We live in a culture of exploitation.

Can the free press fulfill its function in these conditions?

And what happens to us if it can't?


Nature of the Problem@2x Created with Sketch.

We’re not looking for a "solution.”
We try to see the world as it actually is
and imagine systems that empower
rather than exploit.


WHAT IS THE WICKED PROBLEM TASK FORCE?

The Wicked Problem Task Force is an interdisciplinary group at Journalism + Design at The New School in New York City. We use systems thinking and design to imagine worlds where people have access to the information they need to be self-governing.

SO WHAT’S THE PROBLEM?

The problem is that our news systems aren’t functioning properly right now.

Thirty years of toxic media policy, the rise of an economy based on harvesting attention, the collapse of local news – these are just a few of the forces that are wreaking havoc on the free press. 

It’s what public policy people would call a “wicked problem” – unstable, unpredictable, and with boundaries that blur into the boundaries of other problems. 

If the free press can’t function properly, then the whole system of liberal democracy can’t function properly.

WHAT’S AT STAKE?

Everything.