Veteran Olympia journalist Austin Jenkins has seen an avalanche of changes in the news business during his award-winning career. Jenkins has worked for multiple media outlets over the years to report on government and public policy, including hosting TVW’s “Inside Olympia.” While he started in traditional TV news in the Pacific Northwest, Jenkins’ ability to nimbly adjust to the rapidly changing business is reflected in his latest additional position at Pluribus News, a new digital media outlet covering all 50 states and where he reports on tech policy, transportation, infrastructure and the disruption economy.
As he has pivoted to new platforms, Jenkins says the news audience has also been required to adapt to the industry’s developments. Jenkins explains that it can be daunting to sift through today’s high volume of now largely online content. “It’s a challenge finding the signal through the noise,” Jenkins says, adding that readers and viewers must now ask, “’Is it relevant?’ ‘Is it true?’ ‘Is it important?’”
Despite the landscape’s transformation, Jenkins remains committed to serving the public’s informational needs, helping them identify what’s important now and prepare for the future. “We can be overwhelmed by the pace of technology or lean into it to make sure the next generation has the skills to navigate it,” he says.
From Olympia, Jenkins Witnesses Significant Media Developments Ranging from Structural to Technological
From the front lines in Olympia, Jenkins has witnessed far-reaching media developments ranging from structural to technological. For more than two decades he has covered the State Legislature and politics for Northwest News Network and TVW, and reported for outlets in Seattle, Portland and Boise. He has been recognized with awards from the Association of Capitol Reporters and Editors, Public Radio News Directors Incorporated, the Society of Professional Journalists and more.
Jenkins says that two things are happening at once in the news business. First, there is a lot more information and places to go to find it. And second, there is a big decline in the numbers of local and regional media.
Jenkins says the fate of two former office buildings on the State Capitol campus exemplifies the news business changes. For many years Jenkins and other reporters covered legislative sessions from an old white duplex and vintage blue bungalow, nicknamed The White House and The Blue House respectively, located across the street from the Legislative Building. The houses were demolished in 2022-2023 to make room for campus improvements, and the Capital Press Corps moved into the Legislative Building. Jenkins says the demolition and move are emblematic of how former media structures must give way to new developments. “It’s a very physical sign of the tumult and disruption to the news business,” he says.
A League of Women Voters of Washington study in 2022 also confirmed that tumult and disruption, documenting the significant decline in the number of the state’s media outlets and staff. The study referenced state and local responses, such as newspapers moving from print to more efficient digital delivery systems and media increasing their local news coverage. Jenkins notes that he has seen other system-wide technological developments with social media platforms providing news content, the use of artificial intelligence (AI), and algorithms directing articles to readers.
While the full impact of these dramatic changes remains to be seen, Jenkins sees several bright spots such as the emergence of online outlets covering local and state communities. Local examples include ThurstonTalk, JOLT and Thurston County Scanner, News & Weather Blog. Jenkins says State Affairs, a news organization making state government more transparent, recently acquired Pluribus News and recognizes that state legislatures warrant coverage as they enact thousands of laws affecting their residents’ daily lives.
Student Reporters Impress Jenkins as They Navigate Evolving News Industry
Hearing from future journalists navigating the evolving industry is another bright spot for Jenkins. “Young people want to get into journalism for the same reasons I did,” he says. “It’s a passion, a calling, and it’s an interesting and exciting field.”
Jenkins has visited with students in internships, in his prior Communication Studies adjunct faculty teaching position at Saint Martin’s University, and as a University of Washington Center for Journalism, Media and Democracy fellow in the Department of Communication. Jenkins earned his Master in Communication in the UW Communication Leadership program and is a School of Communication Hall of Fame inductee. “I have been really impressed by the young people,” he says. “They are smart, multi-skilled, and really good writers and reporters.” As newsrooms shrink, Jenkins also says student interns’ roles covering stories like legislative actions becomes heightened.
And Jenkins is optimistic when it comes to newer generations steering the public through media technology changes and the noise of online content, especially with the students’ abilities to analyze social media postings. “The young people are very savvy and capable,” he says.
