Above: Arianna Huffington. Photo credit: Anusha Alikhan. 

Arianna Huffington kicked of the 2013 abc* Foundation Continuity Forum Wednesday at Miami Beach’s New World Center with some “straight talk” on the future of media.

The two-day forum brings together high-profile speakers and social entrepreneurs to present their ideas and use their influence to address social challenges across the Americas.

Huffington, president and editor-in-chief of the Huffington Post, started the discussion by focusing on the importance of gatherings like the Continuity Forum that bring together innovators around issues of economy, politics, the environment and media.

“They all connect,” she said. “Both for the future of media and for the future of our world.”

She then launched into her topic, sharing her vision of the future of media and how to be successful in a rapidly changing environment. Three important insights emerged from her talk for both journalists and those investing in media to keep in mind:

1. Shining a light on the “good news” pays off

First, she said that media companies have a responsibility to spotlight the good news and not just the bad.  She pointed out that journalists tend to live by the motto, “If it bleeds, it leads,” focusing on the dysfunctional.

“At the Huffington Post we do plenty of coverage on what’s not working,” she said. “But increasingly if we look at the future of media it is important to realize that we need to focus on what is working, on what is succeeding and how we can scale the good things that are happening.”

This shift is necessary, she said, not only “to give people a fuller picture of the world,” but also to spark innovation and inspire them. A desire to inspire was the impetus behind creation of the successful Huffington Post section titled “HuffPost Good News,” which focuses on positive developments in health, innovation and job creation. Huffington equated the power of positive news coverage with a small business that is given attention, money and mentoring to scale.

 “People, believe it or not, prefer to share good news, and prefer to share advice and information about how to lead their life in ways that are more productive, healthier and happier, then to share news about the latest burglary or murder,” she said. “So what I’m saying here, for those who are in the media making decisions, it’s not just good for the world; it’s good for business.”

2. Help people lead the lives they want

Huffington continued to her second point, advising journalists to recognize that people are not just looking for information, but also for purpose. Huffington explained that this is a great opportunity for tomorrow’s journalists.

“Increasingly people are not just searching for information they are searching for meaning,” she said. “And journalists who cover that obsessively have a real chance of tapping into the zeitgeist and helping people lead, as we call it at the Huffington Post, not just the lives they settle for but the lives they actually want.”

The Huffington Post, she pointed out, started out purely covering politics and news and now has 20 lifestyle sections. By highlighting issues important to people’s lives the publication is meeting real community needs.

“As we all look to redefine success and reprioritize our lives, these conversations together with the good news, are the most shared conversations,” she said. “I launched the sections ‘What is Working in Health,’ ‘What is Working in Job Creation’ because I believed in them; it turns out they are also the most easily monetized sections.”

3. The community is a news source

Huffington went on to discuss the expanding view of news delivery, attributing it to the multitude of outlets for self-expression. Citizens are now not just consumers but also sources for news, she pointed out; blogs, Facebook, Twitter and other social media have become hubs for self-expression, and the news world is using them as information resources. 

“There are millions of people who want to be part of the story of our time and tell us what they see, what they hear, what they believe,” she said. “And the results are amazing, they range from the Arab Spring, to putting a spotlight on something that is working in their own communities.”

According to Huffington, as a result of this movement, media decision-makers are now charged with bringing voices to the conversation that would not otherwise be there. They have to answer a call from communities to go beyond traditional “left” and “right” definitions of news and look at what is in the public interest.

Huffington concluded by saying that she was very optimistic about the future of media, and that it was in the hands of media companies to change journalism for the better.  As the first speaker at the abc* Continuity Forum she set a tone for the discussion to come, stressing an abundance of opportunity for citizens to bring positive change to their communities and our world.

The forum continues today at New World Center with a live stream being broadcast on the Web and recorded. Between speeches from speakers such as Huffington, astronaut Buzz Aldrin and primatologist Jane Goodall, 21 entrepreneurs will present ideas for meeting social challenges. Three of them will later be selected for further support by the abc* Foundation.

Lindsay Brown, communications intern at Knight Foundation