DAY 2 At the Al Jazeera Forum in Doha— Professor Lawrence Lessig

A bit slow getting going today—maybe everyone is talked out but i doubt it. The presentations are usually compelling but the panel format is a bit deadly for my tastes. The focus is the future–citizen journalism versus power politics The keynote speaker is Lawrence Lessig, an innovative analyst of law and intellectual property at Stanford.

He starts with a story…referencing Frederick Douglass and his book touches on how power changes ideals. “Slav ery proved as injurious to her as it was to me…he notes that her tender heart became stone. ” His point was that ideals were changed by the power of the system of slavery.

Web 2.0: he shows that its architecture is built on other people’s conetnt and shares—read write capability–key i to recognize that the architecture is decentalized—means that comtrol is weakened;–networks want to keep comtrol–which is a threat to new system

HE CITES ALL INNOVATORS- KIDS AND OUTSIDERS–GENRATIVE INTERNET

UNAHPPY IUNTERNET
SPAM, PHISHING, SASSR WORM, SLAMMER WORM

WHY HAS IT BEEN MALICIOUS–BUT MORE MAILICIOUS

THERE WILL NE AREACTION TO MAKE WEB MORE RGEEUABLE OIF THERE ARE SERIOUS DISRUPTIONS…

NEED TO DEFEND WEB AGAINST THESE ATTACKS

ULTIMATE TEST OF UNDERLYING IDEALS IS TO ALL OW CONTET TO BE AVAILABLE
ENABLE YTHAT ACCESS SO THAT IT IS FREELY AVAILABLE…HE ADVISES SPREAD IDEALS IN THE WAY THAT THIS MAKES THE MESSGAE REMIND US OF THE IDEALS

AWAKENINGS IS THE MODEL—WE NEED TO UNDERSTAND HOW THIS TECHNOLOGY WILL THREATEN US—BELIEVES IT IN IDEALS..LIVE THE IDEALS

role of government—is a threat and danher—slow changes are taking place in the interenet—there is anarchy omn the web—-Z THEORY===discusses that net will change
and that teror affects the law—terror brings in radical changes

There is more polarization—issues of fairness and balance and truth may be lost in spreading democratized communications

IP WARS—challenge to weapons to protect companies–content recognition—to identify ownership

reaches beyond piracy0–achieves censorship–fair use

greenwald–wanted to use one minute decisio to go to war

asked NBC–NBC said NO–Network was protecting president–clips of fox—fox called it piracy–it was said that it puts journalism at risk

Web 2.0 is changimhg how culture is beingmade—radicallu different to build culture and government,,,,

Threats to new approach–is it any good, does it help, does it speak truth to power

sundtein, republic.com (v2) asks key questions

The key is not the technique–technique has been demcractized—we can all remix all of thus==changes freedom to speak to empower peer to peer communication….it restores an idea of democracy….

l906 JohnPhillip Souza warned of talking machines–inferenal machines..he refers the re-write culture where people create and recreate…

he feared that top down culture—would supplant creaativity from bottom up

we moved from a reaad write culture to a read only culture

He shows an ad that was used for Mac Computers and redone against Hillary for Barrack
He showed parodies by Janathon McInosh —Sin Sadler—Johan Soderberg

HE references US ideals, free speech, equaity—power has made the natiom different
ideals were undermined by concentration of power.

The challenge is how to approach WEB 2.0—should ideals be respected….loss of control is threatening and creates anxiety…about loss of power–war 2.0—us technology gives people the power to resist…

The internet is reflecion of society…..

He believes that if you can give away content—facing strong resistance–find a way to get access to people—make content to bloggers–to contrast it with Fox and CNN –you will be seen as a news organization–this will increase power of brand—cable companies want to make money–if the market wants it…

We are limited by the way we raise it…There has been a radical change–there is more engagement today than ever===the technology of the 20th centure made us consumers of cultiure–there was a change–there is a change–technology reminds us of what it is like to express ideas….

NEW MEDIA PANEL

Johnathan Marks—‘

Movng from Radio that shouts that ends uop SHARING—-making cntent designed to be stolen—content in the right context—upset with the way broadcasters are misusing user just want pictures or witness imagery, not journalism or analyis

Egyptian Blogosgere—where journalism, art and opinion mix—pushes journalism beyond legality—we publish things that ar e illegal to publish including call to action-aljazeera breaks laws in Egypt

DAOUD KUTTAB—First intifada—people had no media—had created radio statiomn
Created Palestinian radio station—community baded radio and ciyizens based

ETHAN ZUCKERMAN—we are at start at revolution—revolution from the south (ie Jazeera but now==everyone gets to speak to everyone—we are seeing individuals people see—sending material via phones in Kenya—Tunisia –battle in Bahrein over google maps- he say filtering, translation and amplificaton….

MARK LEVINE—Violence is threatening—I don’t care how I am getting media—al jazeera is was a new voice in an old media….young people are the key plauyers—ability to build trust is key—that ill win allegiance of young people—social networks are key—integrration is key..what I think is important is intergration

Axis of justice—-artiss from rage against the machine and system of a down spoke of opposition to the war in the US—statement of solidarity

ETHAN—SMS was shut off in Ethiopa and in some areas cells were turned off
It is an activist tool—can be used as election monitoring tool—texts would be sent tio radio stations

There is a discussion of ow people use technology to promote activism or mobilize people to the poll….

In Egypt, police took cellphone footage of abuse of a blogger—that material was being used to publicize the case.

I jumped into the conversation when I sensed that some on the panel were defining journalism very narrowly to exlude the importance of perspectives…..Commentary, analysis, and opinion have always been part of the tradion of jounalism.

SAFETY OF JOURNALISTS

FINAL PANEL—Moderated by Dave Marash of AlJazeera

Tasir Ayouni, Al Jazeera correspondent convicted in Spain on terrorism charges,,,,

Speaking by satellite from Spain

Journalists are targeted—our offices were attaked in Kabul in Baghdad—many colleagues—Sami Haj is in Guantanamo—This aims at preventing journalists from getting access. Journalists in Afghanistan—NATO Forces and Karzai’s government prevents journalists from going into the field….Reaching the news item is almost important…. Hazard in getting to the Taliban to give the other aspect of the news—Account is only given by NATO—He says Al Jazeera had scoops to give the other side of the story—When you broadcast the news, it can lead to attacks …My colleagues in Palestine –they work like they are on tightrope…The life of a journalist is very dangerous
Going beyond the headlines has====he says claim of responsibility by Taliban is in doubt—it is an area involving the northern alliane…many question marks involving the reports that there was an assassination attempt against Vice President Cheney….Northern Alliance has turned against the US—journalists are in that area Afghanistan is the picture of FUTURE wars….these risks will continue

David Marash goes to Rodney Pinder—l000, journalists have died in the last ten years.,,,it seems like the whole world is at war…journalists have been targeted —-9 out of lo cases have not been prosecuted—190 journalists died—160 Iraqi..casualties are locals…US TROOPS were implicated in 16 cases…calls on journalists to support one another in the war—seek out training—and have access to psychological counseling

Attacks on journalists and staff is increasing—the rate of killings is getting worse…need for lobbying and pressure—we don’t see commitment from within the industry—less commitment to “duty of care” AidanWhite of the IFJ criticizes the industry—journalists are ill prepared and not trained and supported—The News business is part of this problem

We have to be conscious of the problems of media staff—the interpretators, the drivers, support staff, need to protect people on whom we relty

Lack of neutrality is at issue,,,,

Can you ignore his relationship witth al Jazeera—there has been no proper report or investigation…it stretches credibility for us to think that it wa s mistake….He cites the csse of Tareq Ayoub who was AlJazeera’s bureau chief in Baghdad.

Why do all journalist organizations have different estimates —CPJ only focuses on press reporters—CPJ has called Josh Wolf to support the blogger. CPJ has investigated the case of Sami Al Haj …

List of journalists whose cases have not been fully investigated…..

l. Question—on need for international law—Aidan white says that these cases are not investigated….under existing laws—UN has passed a flawed effort

criticism of Al Jazeera—should do more to promote love

The industry is called on to support press freedom groups

There is a call to free BBC’s Alan Johnson in Gaza,

Criticism of journalists who engage in hotel journalism were raised,,,,,tribute offered to Iraqi jouirnalists who tend to be forgotten.

Suggestions to readers –for more information see websites of Journalists Without Borders, Committee to Protect Journalists, News Safety Institute, Rory Peck Trust, International Federation of Journalists.

This is the last session of the Al Jazeera Forum that I will be blogging. On a personal note, and on behalf of Mediachannel.org I want to thank Al Jazeera for giving me the opportinity to cover this event and interact with so many dedicated and concerned journalists.

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