28
Feb
Can Citizens’ Journalism Resuscitate the Media?
As MediaChannel.org marks its fifth anniversary, co-founder and News Dissector Danny Schechter opens a discussion on where we go from here in the first of a series of articles. Your comments, ideas and help are most welcome — post here or e-mail dissector@mediachannel.org.
Hello: I’ve been reading these emails and postings for a few months and I am inspired and happy to know that there are like-minded smart people out there. I produce a monthly public access children’s TV show called “Brooklyn Blowback” where we re-tell stories and fairy tales with puppets and pictures and contemporize them. “We get Naked with the Truth.”
For instance, we did “Dick Chenny Penny” based on “Chicken Little” in which the characters (Colin Owly Powelly, Condoleeza Ricey-Micey, Thomas Ridgeon Pidgeon, etc.) meet their fates at the hands/hooves/mouths of Paul “Wolfy” Wolfowitz and family. We’ve also done “The Boy Who Cried Wolf”, “The Emperor’s New Clothes”,
“The 100th Monkey”, 9/11 Commission Powerpoint and others. If you can you help us get these stories (each ep. is 28 minutes and most stories are under 10 min.) aired or exposed to your “network”, we can join forces and help resuscitate tomorrow’s journalism and help mobilize today’s citizen journalists.
I am confident that we can work together to educate and entertain the masses and improve the world. Brooklyn Blowback wants to reach out to you too.
If you want to order a sample DVD/vhs
preview copy of highlights, email brooklynblowback@audioastrology.com
We have completed 25 episodes since 2002.
http://www.bcat.tv
Please check out our website: http://brooklynblowback.homestead.com
Brooklyn Blowback TV
“We get Naked with the truth.”
For children of all ages.
Sincerely,
David Kay
February 28th, 2005 at 12:59 pmProducer and Writer
“Brooklyn Blowback TV”
Airs 3rd Satday of every month
I think that the Gannon affair has been the acid test of whether the US media has become the propaganda wing of the neocons, and unfortunately it clearly has. Even aside from the national security issues, it is the most salacious story ever to go unreported. This sort of stuff is the meat and drink of infotainment style news under normal democratic circumstances. The fact that they are witholding this story from an audience they know would be interested (even if it was only a prurient interest) can only mean one thing. The media is the canary in the coal-mine of Democracy, and its been dead some time.
Under these circumstances citizen journalists have to carry the torch of journalistic integrity because the mainstream media is no longer fulfilling its traditional democratic function.
It is vital that citizens in general and citizen journalists in particular demand a new, more dialogic paradigm. It seems to me that only insecure journalists could have a problem with this - those who prefer to feign neutrality, and pronounce from on high without accountability or having to source or substantiate their assertions. Not all journalists are threatened by the paradigm shift: Writing in the Observer’s new blog this weekend Nick Cohen said blogs have raised the bar:
I think we really are looking at a paradigm shift, enabled by the internet and other new technologies, and hastened by the demise of the US media. I also think the new media has already gathered more momentum than could be stopped by government interference at this stage. Nevertheless It is early days so problems remain; citizen journalists have a symbiotic relationship with the mainstream media, where information feeds down and increasingly, feeds up. What happens when the MSM doesn’t take up an issue like the Gannon affair, when it systematically dams the information flow? New channels need to be carved that enable information to flow around the obstruction it presents. Net streaming, downloadable audio and video and independent film are useful outlets. Perhaps the next step for bloggers is to diversify into other forms of media.
The market is expanding exponentially; A new blog is created every 5.8 seconds. Even if only three people regularly read it that still represents an enormous number of people who are becoming alternate media aware on a daily basis.
February 28th, 2005 at 8:31 pmFor those of us concerned with discovering the truth…there can never be enough of us!
March 1st, 2005 at 12:30 amI think that we are each experiencing a distortion of democracy in our lives and particularly in the media. Although blogs and bloggers come with their own baggage, certain blogs are extremely informative and proactive with events you just don’t see in the najor media. I think life as we know it depends on a free and open press and that notion is being threatened by the paucity of news outlets and the paucity of diverse opinions as reflected in the news.
Thanks for allowing me my say.
Taylorlee
March 1st, 2005 at 5:10 pmIf we pay attention to the news–be it our firsthand observations of politics, fashion, music, events in our hometown, and even the media–we need to put that information in our head and think about how we feel about it. From there on in, it’s important to discuss the stories and our opinions.
Example: I’m thinking a lot about the elections in Iraq lately, and how a few countries are offering to help rebuild that country. Well, I believe that American business will benefit a great deal because of their involvement. That could mean many things including ways our corporations can have even more power than they already do.
Also, if you’re a media junkie like me, you also need to interpret whether a newsperson has an agenda or if they’re being told to have an agenda. I’ve been enjoying Monica Crowley and Ron Reagan Jr’s new show, CONNECTED on MSNBC the past week. I noticed a few times she’s been instructed to take an argument from a more Conservative point of view. But she’s not a real Conservative. At times she starts to agree with the opposition. Good for her for really listening to her guests. It may not be what MSNBC wants, but at least she’s using her head.
March 2nd, 2005 at 12:52 amI can not believe the media coverage that surrounds the disappearance of Natalie Holloway whose demise was appropriate for that of a whore..had she been black television viewers would be benefiting from more important issues, so lets all hope they find her body soon : )
June 25th, 2005 at 7:43 pmKeep it up!!
August 14th, 2005 at 5:39 amMedia are run by criminals, pure and simple. Media are the single greatest source of political treachery in this country, easily outdistancing the imbeciles presently kept in power by those same media.
August 14th, 2005 at 7:52 pm