
Patrick Boehler '19
Executive Editor responsible for Audience and Innovation at SWI, Switzerland
"Newsrooms face similar challenges and opportunities as the communications branches of companies, political parties, NGOs and international organisations. How do we best reach, inform and engage audiences effectively as media consumption habits change and traditional power structures erode fast and amid an avalanche of 'content'."
I took this course to learn best practices from other industries and find inspiration to distribute journalism better. I learned much more: I gained a new understanding of how the other side engages journalists and how that could be different. I've also gained a better understanding of how we can leverage communication processes to benefit the interests of journalists, how other actors try to build trust and authority among stakeholders and communities and how to communicate effectively familiar narratives of purpose inside and outside an organisation.
Most importantly, I've learned why and how my role as a journalist can be far more significant than to tell stories."
Patrick Boehler is the Executive Editor responsible for audience and innovation at SWI, the international service of the Swiss public broadcaster, and the managing editor of the Global Environmental Reporting Collective, an international group of journalists working to expose environmental crimes. He previously worked for the New York Times, the South China Morning Post and other publications in Asia and taught at the University of Hong Kong.