The media's role in US President Donald Trump's election and how online platforms are affecting the way we discuss serious issues were some of the questions up for discussion in Monday's wide-ranging Sydney Writers' Festival edition of Q&A.

Joining host Tony Jones on the program were Russian journalist and Putin biographer Masha Gessen, NBC News correspondent Katy Tur, New York Times critic Wesley Morris, senior fellow at the Lowy Institute Richard McGregor and staff writer for The New Yorker Alexis Okeowo.

The first question of the night focused on the recent White House correspondents' dinner, from which Mr Trump was noticeably absent, where comedian Michelle Wolf roasted the President — and a host of other people.

Citing Wolf's comments that the media should accept some responsibility for Mr Trump's election, an audience member provoked a mixed reaction from Tur, who said the President "would have existed regardless of whether [the US media] covered him or not".

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"The media does not deserve the blame if you don't like Donald Trump," she said.

"Donald Trump is a real thing and garnered real support within the country and he still has a lot of real support within the country that doesn't come from people that might live on the coast.

"We did not create him. We covered him because he was a presidential candidate."

Tur said Mr Trump received a lot of media coverage because of "the way he ran his campaign, going from outrage to outrage".

"You could barely end reporting on the first outrage before you got to the next and the next."

But Morris said the media created Mr Trump before he even ran for President.

"There's never been a person in any aspect of American politics this fluid or this fluent in the television televisual linguistic arts," he said.

Okeowo said there was a lot to learn from the coverage of the election.

"I think the problem is the fact that Trump was a spectacle and the media had to cover him but it inevitably detracted and I think complicated the coverage of his opponents.

"I think that often to the disadvantage of viewers, of voters, who I think got an overabundance of a certain type of coverage."

What can Australians learn from a slavery museum in the US?

Mentioning a new museum in Alabama in the US that includes exhibits on slavery and lynching, one audience member asked whether scars from the past can ever fully heal, and what Australians can learn about telling the history of Indigenous Australians.

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Okeowo, who has written about the museum, said the deep south was "obsessed with its history".

"Especially Alabama, [it] is a place that loves to talk about its history … but only certain parts of it," he said.

"[It's] obsessed with the Confederacy, obsessed with the myths about what the past once was allegedly, sort of a glorified past. That's a countrywide obsession.

"I think it's so potent here in Australia too. I think there are a lot of parts of the history here dealing with first peoples, dealing with Indigenous populations that haven't been reckoned with."

Are online platforms changing how we approach serious issues?

In the final question of the night, an audience member asked: "Do you think online platforms such as Twitter are genuinely revolutionising our approach to serious issues or simply reducing their importance and minimising them and desensitising us to their gravity?"

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Gessen said what was needed was deeper reporting and eliminating stereotypes — but she said issues could get "flattened" on Twitter.

"But I do recognise that social media ... is bringing people together who might not be in conversation. Whether that's fruitful conversation, I don't know, but I think it's still useful," she said.

McGregor said while there was always something to read on Twitter, it was not necessarily making a positive contribution.

"To give a Twitter-length answer in speeding things up, it's not adding to the gravity or ballast of the debate," he said.

"It's just another tool and you have to stay off it if you want to think, because it doesn't help you to think."

Catch up on Q&A on ABC iview.