STARTING THE CONVERSATION:What are your expectations for MGP2006?

Three days in June and July is not enough time to resolve a vision for the future of journalism, participatory democracy and community. But we can extend that time a little by getting the conversation started early.  Are you attending MGP2006 in Amherst June 28-July 1? If so, what are your expectations? What are the key issues at the intersections of media, politics, education and technology? What do see yourself as bringing to the summit? What would you like to learn and take away? What do you want to see accomplished?

ADD YOUR THOUGHTS BELOW -- and thanks!

-- bill densmore, 413-458-8001, Media Giraffe Project editor/director.

Comments

[DeGennaro, Rafael]

Expectations:
1) Make people aware of my new organization -- ReadtheBill.org -- and its simple, concrete campaign to get Congress to post the bills online for 72 hours before any floor consideration.

2) Connect with organizations that can endorse this concept. For one sentence to endorse, see: www.readthebill.org/72online

3) Brainstorm about how my organization could pressure the traditional news media to start asking congressional committees whether the bill is available to the public and press online when the bill is scheduled for the floor.

3) Learn about cool ideas/things that others are doing/thinking.

4) Find ideas and people that are powerful and interesting, not necessarily liberal/progressive.

[Benjamin Melançon]

I want to meet more people like Rafael DeGennaro with great ideas like http://ReadTheBill.org and get us all in a network where our communication is moderated by ourselves, and not unmoderated or moderated by gatekeepers. Provisionally called People Who Give a Damn, http://pwgd.org/

Also to promote The NewStandard - http://newstandardnews.net/ - an excellent hard-news not-for-profit web newspaper-- exactly the kind of new media, new business model this conference accurately posits that we need.

You can reach me directly at http://bemweb.com/contact/

[Paul Bass]

I'm looking forward most of all to hearing how fellow "hyperlocal" journalists and other web reporters are making it work.

[Lynn Gregory]

I would like to hear what others have to say about the future of citizen media and its impact on traditional journalism.

I would also like to have some discussion on Public Information Entertainment and the importance of audience analysis in persuasive communication.

I am currently teaching in the Summer Integrated Media Studies Institute and hope to share some of my experiences and get feedback from others on students as grassroots journalists.

[Teresa Styles]

I would like to discuss the role of the journalism educator in the future of journalism. I would also like to come away with strategies and a plan of action for curriculum revisions.

[Kevin Howley]

I hope to learn more about local innovations in community based media and citizens' journalism.

I'd also like to discuss ways in which program participants can mobilize their readers, constituents and communities to work toward fundamental media reform.

[Heather B]

I would like to learn about others who write blogs (or manage online sites) similar to mine. Networking along these lines would be valuable to me, and finding avenues of support for possible new ventures or collaborations.

[Andrew Varnon]

I'm hoping to meet some interesting people and have some interesting conversations about the future of media. The Valley Advocate, which is the local alt.weekly, is considering launching blogs and I have a personal blog on the side (http://sachem-head.livejournal.com ). I'd like to get a sense for what other people are doing out there.

[Meredith McCulloch]

I am on a quest. I have time, skills and a burning desire to protect the Constitution. Desperately seeking a realistic, actionable mission.

[Jeff Fox]

Looking to develop a concept of mine for consumer empowerment. I believe it is time for consumers to fight for their own rights and organize in their own interests, since government and corporate media have, for the most part, failed them. I'd like to get feedback from others on how they think this can best be accomplished and to learn from others who are engaging in citizen activism both online and offline.

[Geoff Davidian]

There are many issues to deal with, including: the refusal of the Justice Department to enforce anti-trust laws against chains like Hearst, which takes over competing papers then shuts 'em down; media ignoring circulation fraud involving newspapers in Texas, New York, Illinois, etc. At this rate, there will be one newspaper company in a few decades. Who keeps the media honest? We have a big problem when media companies and foundations that fund journalist training ignore the need to monitor their own industry. Can every child in school be given media training so the public does not have to rely on a single source of information?

[Mark Karlin]

Share practical steps to achieving the new media that reflects the pro-democracy movement in America.

[Keith Walker]

1) Looking for feedback and people to collaborate with on the idea listed below.
2) Get funding ideas
3) Get tips on working with a multidisciplinary team

Project description:
The overall, long term goal is to improve the general public’s ability to understand and form opinions on the complex issues faced in our democracy. The project’s approach to achieving this goal is to develop and promote a standard, structured technique to decision-making and public debate that becomes widely adopted in the general public and among decision-makers in government. This technique will be used in everyday discussions about policy issues, and the news media will provide information in a format that supports the approach. The technique will be enabled by an online software tool that provides a centralized location for exchanging facts and opinions in a structured way.

[Craig Sandler]

I run a blog priced for elites. It's called www.statehousenews.com. It's $48 a week. Our subscribers adore us because we practice traditional journalism, right down the middle, produced by professionally trained journalists. I'm thinking I'll be out of business in about eight years. Hmmm. I'm also having trouble adjusting to a media environment consisting of everyone expressing their opinion at once, laced with obscenity.

At the same time, I run a citizen's news tool for free: www.issuesource.org. (It also lives on www.mass.gov - the official state web site.) It's a chronology of important stories in state government - but "important" is defined by the local MSM. I'm wondering whether to import news created by the blogosphere, but don't trust what I read there. So I'm hoping the conference will be a mind-expanding experience! If you have some hopeful words or ideas, please introduce yourself to me - look for bright orange hair and seersucker!!! --Craig

[Robert W. Mann]

In my view, several fundamental issues need to be understood before progress can be made in the spread of information. A huge part of the impetus for citizen journalism has been dumped in our laps by two conditions.
1) Perhaps forever, but certainly since Nixon, "experts" have increasingly failed to perform their function. There is no longer any credible punishment for saying things which turn out to be fabrications, whether through folly, incompetence, self service or bad intentions. If the mainstream media, scientists, politicians, and other public figures were performing their function, I would go back to consuming their information. I can not take seriously that journalism’s week-end warriors can out perform well paid, reliable, competent, motivated professionals. Unfortunately, I can no longer tell which, or even when these qualities are being neglected. Some degradation of these qualities occurred as a result of the exponential increase in information. Particularly web resources now suffer this same fate. Lack of investment allows the size of the pool to increase but not without some cost. When there is no threat to resources, say the millions tied up in owning a newspaper or a threat to your future earnings, which historically was destroyed by dishonesty or incompetence, human nature necessitates some other enforcement mechanism not yet on the horizon.
2) I believe this miasmal mist of falsehood is not only tolerated, but encouraged by the citizenry, citizen journalists and bloggers, in order to not have to test their beliefs against reality. No one ever states the information that contradicts their favorite conclusions for fear that it will damage their case, make their argument seem less pure or just make them uncomfortable. I am not going to do it here either.
My only constructive thought is to create a climate in which being wrong, as long as it is not repeated to the point of incredulity, becomes not a character defect, but a symbol of struggling seriously with issues in an environment where no one can hold in their heads, much less sift, all available information. We become public figures when our ideas are placed in the public arena by any means. Many are now extend their birth right of 15 minutes of fame without limit. Loyalty to any preconceived beliefs, parties, habits etc. ought to be jettisoned. Effective struggle to stay on the knife edge of truth has become rare while publicized psychological struggle is rampant. Even if the corrosive effects of financial benefit were removed, other difficulties remain. A fundamental problem in public debate these days, for those who wish to see clearly, occurs when you see what happens if one side presents a falsehood, and the other side the truth. The result is always a half lie, or half a truth depending on your loyalty. In reality, things may be completely black or completely white or any shade of grey. I desire to see events and conditions how they are, so that they can be dealt with if necessary or left alone if possible. It is truly amazing how similar are the conclusions reached when there is a common set of shared facts. A journalist’s job at any level, is to make sure of those facts, not select out those that agree with some preconceived notion.

[Steve Brant]

My focus will be on contributing my perspective as a former civil engineer (UMass - Amherst, class of '76) and, at present, international development consultant (mainly through the UN's corporate social responsibility initiative, The UN Global Compact) to the question "How does journalism need to be reinvented for the reality of the 21st century?"
And what is that reality? In part, it is that "everything effects everything": we no longer live in a world of separate, defensible communities. Either we all make it or, over time, none of us will.
And in part, it is that "reporting what's not being demanded by our customers is more important than giving them what they say they want". And that is because (a) people can't say they want something they don't know they can have...and sometimes what they don't know they can have is actually something that can benefit them a lot. (That's why innovation is so important in the business world...because people won't ask for what they don't know they can have; but they will ask for something YOU know they can have, after you educate them about the fact that they can now have it.)
In a world where whether or not we are all going to make it is truly up in the air (ie. we are at a huge historical cross road), I believe journalism needs to ask itself some very hard questions about how it chooses what it reports on and what it doesn't report on.
And my expectation is that this conference will be a place where we all start talking about this.

[John Wilpers]

I'd like to explore how the latest print media business model (free daily newspapers) can work with people operating on the internet platform (citizen journalists, bloggers, nonprofits, watchdogs, ad hoc activists, consumer advocates, etc.). Such partnerships would enrich both party's offerings as well as expand awareness of netizens' messages, activities, and points of view.

I have been the editor in chief of two of these free dailies (Boston Metro and The Washington Examiner). I see tremendous power and potential in the distribution reach of free dailies (e.g., 170,000 in Boston, 260,000 in DC) to inform readers of new ideas and drive them to seek more information and to act.

[Josh Wilson]

In general, I look forward to meeting lots of active, thoughtful individuals, and engaging in this productive conversation face to face!

As the founder of Newsdesk.org (http://newsdesk.org/), one of my primary interests is to enlist allies in the creation of a high-quality, credible, commercial-free platform for professional journalists to produce and publish their work.

In general, I also hope to address, or at least raise awareness of, three essential journalism challenges that trump all other concerns before media reformers:

-- The problem of finance and funding. Until journalism can shake off the yoke of today's unrealistic profit expectations, it will continue to decline as a service to democracy. Jack Shafer noted in his recent Slate column (http://www.slate.com/id/2144201) that newspapers today are in fact profitable -- but are nevertheless "dying profitably" because they can't meet the 20%+ margins demanded by shareholders. This isn't a problem of journalism. This is a problem of the BUSINESS of journalism, and its effects on news coverage are pernicious. Don't think for a moment that the Internet is immune to this. It isn't. The likely future for the blogosphere is intense commercialization, as major media corporations snap up the biggest platforms and "incentivize" certain sorts of coverage by citizen media-makers.

-- The problem of quality control and credibility. This is a matter of signal-to-noise ratio. Journalists -- and professional journalism organizations such as the SPJ and Newspaper Guild -- are well-positioned to address this, and they should be encouraged to take leadership roles. News publishers themselves have an important opportunity to establish standards even as the Internet opens doors and explodes the "black box" of the 20th century's closed, one-way publishing methods.

-- The problem of distribution and access. It's not enough to simply publish something online, no matter how good it may be. People need to get to it -- and most people in the world do not have computers (digital divide!). Even in the richest nations, not everyone has the funding required to get online or subscribe to the Wall Street Journal (or whatever). Broadcast, print and Internet media are all part of a larger system, and there is room for innovation in developing new distribution and access models.

I'll be one of the participants on the Thursday morning panel, "Finding a New Definition of Journalism." See you there!

[Doug Battema]

I would like to learn more about recent trends in journalism, to learn about resources I can point my students toward as I teach them how to become critical media consumers and producers, and to help foster responsible and principled journalism that counters the largely superficial pap that passes for journalism in much of commercial media.

[Daniela Reif]

I'm very interested in hearing more about how online media, in particular blogs, can influence public policy and how you can judge the quality of news blogs.

I would also like to meet individuals who have been involved in corporate blogging and hear about their experiences.

Overall I'm looking forward to having great conversations around citizen-journalism and bottom-up efforts.

[Jon Donley]

It's time for professional journalists to snip away the trappings of elitism and define exactly what makes us important.

We're long past the day when a large company was needed to buy a press. Long past the day when a large company was needed to hire a newsroom. The glib answer to the internet is that "professional journalists" will always be needed. Indeed? Who says? We are not assured of that; even among ourselves, we have trouble justifying our existence. Much of what any news medium does is just being the middleman. And we've seen over the decades how many middlemen have fallen into irrelevance, while proclaiming their unique value.

I submit the once-common service-station attendant, who landed behind the convenience-store counter as full-service stations faded away. Yet once, it was claimed that cars would fall apart if an expert did not fill the tank, wash the windows and check fluids. Indeed.

I submit bank cashiers who insisted they added valuable customer service to the experience of withdrawing cash. How could anyone trust their finances to a machine? Indeed.

I submit travel agents who insist they add valuable service, as opposed to Expedia and Travelocity. Indeed. I suspect that few people heading for this conference arranged their travel through an agent.

I submit newspapers that insist their aggregation of classifieds is of incomparable value to Realtors, auto dealerships and job-seekers. Indeed. A dangerous claim in many markets, and wishful thinking in most.

I submit the typesetter, who lost his job with the advent of direct cold type from the newsroom. And the composing room, which disappeared in the face of pagination. And the darkroom technician who was replaced by Photoshop.

Middlemen all, whose jobs have become largely irrelevant. And now we professional journalists are watching a surge of technology and universal digital empowerment that draws our future into question.

Just to be clear, I believe professional journalism brings value to the table. But in the new information economy - and ecology - what is its role? Is it enough of a role to support itself economically? Stripped of its gatekeeping function - because the gates have been forever smashed open - and its economic premises, what future does professional journalism have? Rote answers will not save us.

And if professional journalism continues to exist in the long run - how will we work with the torrent of newly powered "civilian" journalists?

One assumes that many people lost their livelihoods as America moved from horses to automobiles. An intriguing exception is an carriage-building shop that created horse-drawn vehicles in Ohio. Rather than rail about the superiority and traditions of carriages, this shop saw the future and moved into the construction of automobile bodies. And that one-time small shop became one of the legendary marketing slogans of General Motors: Body by Fischer.

There is in this, perhaps, a lesson for professional journalism.

I hope this conference will help set the agenda for finding the answer for all of us.

[Herb Moyer]

I am hoping to network with other citizen journalists who are working on one or more of the following issues threatening democracy:
* Electronic voting machine vulnerabilities and vote hacking/hijacking
* Voter intimidation
* Corporate control of the media
* Issue framing by the "right" & the "left"
* Lack of political accountability

I would also like to identify organizations with a similar mission as that of Democracy For New Hampshire in order to share successful strategies.
Our mission:

Democracy for New Hampshire is a nonpartisan big-tent organization that promotes grassroots community involvement in the democratic process in New Hampshire. DFNH works to protect the foundations of our democracy and the integrity of our political process and supports fiscally responsible, socially progressive candidates who speak honestly about policy choices.

www.democracyfornewhampshire.com

[Herb Moyer]

As a "Publications" and "Videography" instructor, I would also like to get ideas of how to creatively incorporate blogs and community-focused video into my curriculum.

[Elena Sassower]

As director and co-founder of the non-partisan, non-profit Center for Judicial Accountability, Inc. (CJA), I would like to publicize our goldmine of primary source documents establishing the media's betrayal of its First Amendment responsibilities by its pattern and practice of refusing to examine -- and report on -- readily-verifiable documentary evidence of the corruption of the processes of judicial selection and discipline -- and the complicity of our highest public officers, including those seeking re-election and further public office.

Such media include The New York Times -- and the public officers whose scandalous records on judicial selection and discipine it has refused to report upon include New York's U.S. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, running for re-election this year, with an eye to the White House in 2008, & New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, running this year to be elected Governor. Based thereon, we have brought a public interest lawsuit vs The Times, suing it for journalistic fraud, rising to a level of election-rigging. Our website, www.judgewatch.org, posts two press releases about this first-of-its-kind lawsuit, as well as the litigation papers. Among these, our cross-motion for summary judgment seeking removal of The Times' front-page motto "All the News That's Fit to Print" as a false and misleading advertising claim.

SEE the sidebar panel "Suing The New York Times" --and such other sidebar panels as "Press Suppression" and "Elections 2006: Informing the Voters".

[gus andrews]

Like many posters so far I'm interested in rethinking "expertise," not just in journalism but in education and other professions as well. I feel like to a great extent, to really support democracy, media literacy needs to have a much broader scope and transfer the judgement of "expert" thinking to a greater number of individuals. I think it needs to include training to think like scientists, historians, engineers, social scientists, and journalists.

I would like to see us begin to think of media literacy more broadly as "critical thinking" in a Frankfurt School kind of a sense, and begin to advocate for funding, policy, and a place in the curriculum to support it. As a doctoral student I've begun to think the focus on media as a source of untruths which students should "decode" alienates students unnecessarily, and we should be encouraging them to consider the constructedness of society as much as we ask them to consider the constructedness of media.

I'm hoping to meet up with others from New York to strategize for local coalitions, and to get a clearer sense of the lay of the land in media literacy education, which is not a subject my department covers in depth. I'm also hoping to meet up again with UMass professors I worked with as a student at Hampshire a few years back!

(There's something wrong with this page -- there must be an unclosed HTML tag someplace, all the text shows up as a link to the front page and as a result you can't click on the comment fields without navigating away from this page... could someone fix? thanks...)