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Citizens media meets bulldog journalism; finds the future of news

4 comments on Citizens media meets bulldog journalism; finds the future of news

Citizens media meets bulldog journalism; finds the future of news
: I’m witnessing the future of journalism unfold over at DailySummit.net.

There, a bunch of webloggers sent there by the British Council (can someone explain them to me?) are covering the U.N. World Summit on Information Society with a vibrancy, immediacy, passion, imagination, doggedness, and openness you simply won’t find in big media.

They saw a rant I wrote about the conference — and the U.N.’s audacious talk of taking over the Internet — and turned it into a question for the U.S. ambassador to the session.

Then they asked for questions from the audience for the president of Iran — and they asked them and got surprising answers.

Next the webloggers from Iran who know what is really going on will answer him.

OK, you know where this is going. Cue the theme music. Cue camera 1. Roll teleprompter. And repeat after me: “News is a conversation.”

It reminds me of that great scene in Broadcast News in which Albert Brooks (networks producer) gives a question to Holly Hunter (fellow producer) who whispers it into the ear of anchor William Hurt and suddenly it comes out of his mouth. Except now you’re the ones whispering into the journalists’ ears, telling them what to say. And better than the movie, you’re getting answers back and starting a dialogue that will keep hammering until it gets to truth.

This is what journalism is meant to be.

This isn’t some new form of journalism. This is the result of a few centuries of the evolution of journalism.

We, the readers, get to ask the questions we want to ask of those in power and we get answers. That’s what it’s all about, isn’t it?

Now, it helps immensely that the people in Geneva for DailySummit know their stuff and also ask the right questions at every opportunity.

Give the chance to interview the man in charge of the Iranian Internet, they got to confront him and ask about the arrest of weblogger Sina Motallebi (the frightening event that first introduced me and many of us to the Iranian weblog revolution). The mullahs’ bureacrat lied and shuffled away from the point. But the confrontation tells them: The whole world is watching, boys. You can call that advocacy journalism or bulldog journalism or just good reporting. It’s all that.

The reporting at Daily Summit is smart and lively and up-to-the-minute like no other medium and it is also guided and influenced by what readers are saying in comments and on weblogs.

Compare that to the metronome-dull coverage of big media. In fairness to big media, this is not a really big story; I’m not suggesting that it deserves the kind of blanket coverage (or in TV terms, team coverage) of the summit.

But by not digging down or simply reading the weblog of those who are digging down, big media is missing some great stories. There’s a great story in confronting the president of Iran on Internet censorship (and finding out that he follows weblogs and even brags about how many his country has). There are lots of other good stories. So maybe it’s better to forego the roundup and piggyback on the reporting of these bloggers (just as bloggers always piggyback on the reporting of big media) and report something new, something interesting. This doesn’t have to be competitive.

4 responses to “Citizens media meets bulldog journalism; finds the future of news”

  1. hugh macleod Avatar
    hugh macleod

    Since universal justice is so utterly important to the future survival of the humna race, why don’t we just turn over the running of the US economy to the United Nations while we’re at it?
    Idiots.

  2. DARRELL JARVIS Avatar
    DARRELL JARVIS

    HOW ABOUT GETTING SOME OF OUR ERSTWHILE “JOURNALISTS” TO ASK SOME OF THE NINE OR SO GWB CRITICS TO GIVE SPECIFIC EXAMPLES OF DECISIONS HE HAS MADE THAT THEY WOULDN’T HAVE AT THE TIME AND TELL JUST A SPECIFICALLY WHAT DECISION THEY WOULD HAVE MADE. i HAVE YET TO HEAR ONE THAT HAS THE “GUTS” TO DO IT.

  3. Phil Armstrong Avatar
    Phil Armstrong

    Since my wife used to work for the British Council in Paris I’m sort of vaguely entitled to talk about them. The BC is kind of the cultural wing of the foreign office, charged with promoting British culture abroad. They’re UK government funded, but operate fairly autonomously.
    What they actually *do* varies from country to country. In France for example, it’s pretty much pure cultural relations stuff — there’s a library, they organise concerts. talks etc etc. In bits of Africa the focus might be more on technology transfer — well building processes say.
    The French have a very similar organisation (the Alliance Francaise) as do the Germans (although I can’t remember it’s name right now).
    I guess the purpose behind these kind of organisations is primarily to foster goodwill, in the hope that that investment will pay off in the future in other more indirct ways. Having an organisation on the ground that isn’t seen as the direct representative of the UK (like the local embassy say) can have a certain amount of utility too…

  4. Elaine Howard Avatar
    Elaine Howard

    You asked for an explanation of the British Council. Hope this helps:
    The British Council is the United Kingdom’s international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations. Our purpose is to build mutually beneficial relationships between people in the UK and other countries and to increase appreciation of the UK’s creative ideas and achievements. Currently we have 7,000 staff in 110 countries worldwide.
    We were founded in 1934 and granted a Royal Charter in 1940. We operate independently from the UK government. Our approach is rooted in our commitment to building mutually beneficial relationships – with our partners internationally and across the UK. We believe that the best way to win greater appreciation and understanding of the UK as a trusted and creative partner is to demonstrate a desire to listen to and learn from the people we engage with. Throughout our history – in Suez, in South Africa under apartheid, in central Europe during the Cold War and today in the aftermath of September 11th – this reputation for internationalism and integrity has enabled us to nurture long-term relationships which might otherwise have been impossible.
    Our primary target audience is young people aged between 18 and 35 who want to get on in life. We engage globally with over 50 million people a year. A significant minority of these individuals is offered a higher level of engagement to secure future advocacy for the UK, again in ways which offer mutual benefit to all parties.
    We operate in three broad areas. Our aim in Learning is to increase international recognition of the range and quality of learning opportunities from the UK, to promote the learning of English, and to strengthen educational co-operation between the UK and other countries. Our aim in Creativity is to build appreciation of the UK’s creativity and scientific innovation among people overseas and to strengthen their engagement with the diversity of UK culture. Our aim in Society is to enhance awareness of the UK’s democratic values and processes and work in partnership with other countries to strengthen good governance and human rights.
    We are significantly expanding our networks in Russia and China. We have completed a shift of resources from Western Europe to countries in transition to democracy and free markets, primarily in central and eastern Europe and central Asia. We retain a firm commitment to Africa and the New Economic Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD). We are managing a wide-ranging Connecting Futures initiative to increase young people