NOT JUST TALK
What happens when only the journalism is
left?
Help create and start the next news organization
Journalism That Matters: The DC
Sessions
Aug. 7-8, 2007
George Washington University, Washington, D.C.
Strip away the platforms, the jobs, the institutions, and what will sustain participatory democracy? Are we advancing to a news ecosystem more like English coffeehouses and pamphleteering than mass media? What happens when the "press" becomes a digital "pipe"? Who controls the press then?
The action-oriented discussions known as "Journalism That Matters" are coming to Washington, D.C. Journalists, academics and public advocates will critique and build upon a 21st-century newsroom prototype - and help develop an economic model that supports it.
Please join Merrill Brown, Dan Gillmor, Lee Huebner, Ellen Hume, Geneva Overholser, Chris Peck, Jay Rosen, Jan Schaffer, Tom Stites and a growing list of other participants in helping plan and launch "The Next Newsroom" -- Aug. 7-8, 2007, at George Washington University, Washington, D.C.
THE THEME
"What will journalism be like when only the journalism is left?"Journalism is at a crossroads. What will support its basic values, while adapting its practice to new economic, social and technological realities? Yahoo and major news organizations are aligning for the efficent sale of advertising. Across the nation, dozens of citizens are experimenting with new forms of local, web-based journalism and community building -- and contemplating the potential, gradual, end of newsprint.
THE NEXT NEWSROOM PROTOTYPE
Answering that question, and setting the stage for the launching of at least one prototype of "The Next Newsroom" is the challenge of "Journalism That Matters: The DC Sessions."
Our goal is to facilitate critical discussion on the future and sustainability of journalism. Our unique approach is to first assemble editors, publishers, writers, researchers, academics, entrepreneurs, public advocates, independent and "citizen" journalists for fast, focused discussion. We'll then define the ownership, management, location and sustainability of a "next newsroom" prototype in at least one U.S. community, to launch in early- to mid-2008.
We're going to answer this call:
- "Pick an ideal location, and start a news organization from scratch, using the
best-available technology and ideas, and without the obligations or burdens of
legacy processes or infrastructure. Where will it be, what will it look like,
who will own it, and how will it run."
THE FRAMES
We're approaching this via three "frames":
As a nation, we have a difficult challenge ahead -- how to sustain independent, watchdog journalism. It's needed more than ever to help citizens understand the growing influence of government and corporations on our civil society. It's not clear that a Wall Street-driven, investor-owned approach is still the best.
It's worth exploring -- and moving -- some alternatives.
On Aug. 7-8 at The George Washington University, that's what we're be doing.
JOURNALISM THAT MATTERS hosts conversations with a purpose. It engages the entire system of journalism -- reporters, editors, publishers, camera people, photographers, academics and audience, from newspapers, radio, television, and online media, including both mainstream and alternative sources -- with the changing nature and definition of news in a changing world. The point is to recommit journalism to what is fundamental for connecting news with its audience so that it serves and sustains us.
