RConversation

South Korea: more media & tech trends to watch

The first country to bring us online citizen-journalism via OhMyNews is showing how this new medium is changing the shape of ALL news media.  As James Borton writes in the Asia Times: " The emergence of citizen reporters is succeeding in breaking down the monopoly of information control and ownership by conservative economic media elites. Now mainstream news outlets are even adopting more interactive features in their online versions."  The emergence of OhMyNews has now prompted calls for new media reform legislation, which, according to Borton would include:

Limit the total market share of the three major dailies to 60% and any paper would be barred from holding more than 30% of the entire market; advertising would be limited to no more than 50% of a newspaper

Provide redress for those harmed by inaccurate and damaging media reporting.

Amend the broadcast law to provide for more diversity of views.

I'm not exactly sure what #2 would entail... sounds like lawsuit hell... but #1 and #3 seem to reflect a public demand for greater diversity of views in the national print and TV media - a demand that has been proven and legitimized by the popularity of OhMyNews.

In another interesting development from the world's most connected country, a new study indicates that E-mail is already on its way to extinction among South Korean young people, who consider it to be oh-so- unhip and stone-age.... 

E-Commerce News: Big "BOO" from the Blogosphere

It's well known that many journalists get their story ideas from blogs nowadays and never give credit to the bloggers who tipped them off.  While most bloggers wish they could be acknowledged, they're happy enough to be impacting the news cycle.

But what about when a journalist quotes from a blog, then makes it look like he got those quotes from an interview?

John Palfrey, director of the Berkman Center where I'm a fellow, recently wrote this insightful blog post about a lawsuit brought against Google by a pornographer. (Like all good bloggers, Palfrey duly credits to and links to his original sources.) Today, an article by Keith Regan in the E-commerce News quotes extensively from Palfrey's blog post.  Without those quotes, there wouldn't have been much of an article. But the way in which the article is written - with "Palfrey said," before or after each quote - makes it look as though the quotes came from an interview. Palfrey tells me (via email) that he never spoke to Regan.  I wonder if Regan's editors think he spoke to Palfrey?  Or did his editors take out the reference to the blog as too confusing? (Not inconceivable - in all fairness to the reporter.)

Last time I checked, the standard journalistic practice was that if a reporter quotes from somebody's book or article, he or she must make that clear - and not leave things so vague as to give the impression that the quotes came from an interview.  Seems to me that the same standard of honest reporting should be applied when quoting from blogs.

SUGGESTION TO NEWS ORGANIZATIONS: As you revise your "standards and practices" handbooks to fit this new online age, the most honest and credible thing to do would be to require that when a journalist quotes from a blog, he/she must make this clear. Furthermore, the blog's URL should be named or linked-to, so that the readers can judge the source blog's credibility for themselves, and there can be no dispute about whether the quote was accurate or in context. 

Why news organizations should let their journalists blog

Read Kevin Sites' powerful blog entry about the circumstances under which he videotaped a U.S. marine killing a wounded insurgent in Fallujah.

MSNBC.com reports Sites' description of what happened in a factual manner (and shows the streaming video for free). But Sites' personal account of the moral and emotional issues he grappled with as he filmed the incident, then struggled with the implications of releasing the video, adds something to my understanding of the story that straight news reporting simply cannot give me. His blog post speaks to the context in which the video was shot and aired - and particularly, the reporter's personal relationships with the soldiers he was covering. It shows the beliefs and convictions that led Sites to release the video, despite the damage he knew it would do to the image of the people he had bonded with - and who he truly believes are good, well-meaning people on the whole. The conclusion of his post, addressed to the "Devil Dogs of the 3.1," is especially powerful:

So here, ultimately, is how it all plays out: when the Iraqi man in the mosque posed a threat, he was your enemy; when he was subdued he was your responsibility; when he was killed in front of my eyes and my camera -- the story of his death became my responsibility.

The burdens of war, as you so well know, are unforgiving for all of us.

Sites' blog post reveals what any professional reporter who has worked in difficult situations knows to be true: journalists are constantly making extremely subjective - and often angst-ridden - decisions about right and wrong when they cover controversial stories. By veiling this backstory from public knowledge we are depriving our readers and viewers of an important contextual framework through which to judge the information we're giving them. The best way to restore the public's faith in our work is to be more honest and transparent about why and how we report what we do... and even more importantly, how we're not always sure if we're doing the right thing in the heat of the moment.  In other words, we're human, and our reporting is the product of imperfect human minds and emotions. What better way to do this than by allowing journalists to blog? 

Operation "Viral Freedom"

Spirit of America is funding the development of an Arabic blogging tool.

The vendor is iUpload. Beta testing starts in December.  Here is how they describe the project:

We are funding the development of an Arabic blogging (Web logging) tool and, with donor support, we will host the blogs at no cost to the bloggers. This will allow blogs to be created easily. It will give voice to those working for freedom and democracy in the Arab world. And it will enable them to more easily connect with and share ideas with their peers.

The site is soliciting donations. More about hosting and future plans:

Viral Freedom
Every blog developed using the Arabic blogging tool will include space that is under the control of organizations that we work with, such as Friends of Democracy. This space or “real estate” will be a portion of the blog header (top of the page) and the left column. The organizations will use the space to promote groups, individuals and news that, in the big picture, advance freedom, democracy and peace in the region. Thus, everyone that creates a blog will be promoting moderate and progressive information and viewpoints in the Arab world. Friends of Democracy will use the space to publicize pro-democracy groups, election information and related news. The blogs created under Friends of Democracy will be ambassadors of democracy in the Arab world.

Friends of Democracy
The first group of blogs will be under Friends of Democracy. It will focus on Iraq but anyone, and any group, anywhere that wants to be a “friend of democracy” will be able to create and maintain a Friends of Democracy blog in Arabic at no cost. Friends of Democracy will establish and enforce policies regarding blog use and blog content.

Beyond Iraq
If enough funds are raised, we will seek other moderate organizations to oversee blogs in other Arab countries such as Saudi Arabia and Syria. We will also fund the development of the blogging tool in Farsi so it may be used in Iran and in Kurdish.

I wonder what criteria and measures will be used to "establish and enforce policies regarding blog use and blog content."  I wonder how tolerant FoD will be of pro-democratic but not necessarily pro-U.S. views. This will be very interesting to watch. I hope the Arabic-speaking online community will help keep us updated on how this develops.

Blogging for Mideast Peace

BloggerCorps' first mission:

Onevoice is dedicated to citizen diplomacy between Israelis and Palestinians who want peace.

They're seeking volunteer bloggers in NYC, Tel Aviv and Ramallah.  Interested? Sign up here at BloggerCorps. 

BloggerCorps is born!

Bloggercorps is simple. It's a blog.

No office. No admin. No fund-raising. No funds. No staff. No meetings.

It will evolve organically based on the needs of the people who wind up using it.

For starters, here's the plan:

- The authors (a wide-ranging group comprised mainly of bloggers, activists, and tech organizations who work with non-profits) will post announcements on behalf of organizations who need help starting blogs or building blogging communities. 

- The posts will be categorized according to the organization's geographical location, and in some cases its main focus issue. 

- Bloggers interested in helping that particular organization can express their interest in the comments section attached to that post.

- The organization will then decide which of the volunteers it wants to follow up with.

- All arrangements will be made directly between organizations and bloggers. Bloggercorps will not mediate.

- We are not raising money to put people on planes so in most cases the idea is to match organizations located in a particular place with bloggers living in the same place. 

- If situations arise in which organizations cannot find volunteers living in their area, we may be able to point them to foundations or philanthropic organizations who might be in a position to help fund travel for blogger-volunteers. But we won't do your fundraising work for you.

- Bloggercorps is non-partisan.

Check it out.

Update: NPO blog aggregator project

Thanks to everybody for the enthusiastic response, links and suggestions for the non-profit/activist blog aggregator project. It appears that several groups have been playing around with the idea. My last blog post on the subject seems to have brought everybody together into one conversation. Now we just need to figure out what tools we're going to use, where its going to be hosted, etc. Then hopefully it will move forward from there. So stay tuned and watch this space!!

Blogger Corps?

At various sessions of Bloggercon III, I opined that we need to think more about how blogging tools and the blogging process can be used by the non-profit and activist community - not only in the U.S. but around the world.  This is not merely a matter of blog-evangelizing to the uninitiated.  It's also about adapting blog tools and blogging techniques to the needs of people who want to go beyond online conversations to real-world action. For early blog-adopters, blogging was an end in itself. For the activist community, blogging has to be an effective means to a concrete end. 

In the final wrap-up session of Bloggercon III, I suggested that socially conscious members of the blogging community (of all political persuasions) might want to organize a "Blogger Corps." Through it, bloggers could donate their time to help poorly funded activists or non-profit groups to figure out what blogging tools are right for them, set up blogs, and develop effective blogging strategies. 

The response to this idea was enthusiastic. A few people have contacted me, asking how they can help. I do not have any detailed master plan. I just came up with the idea at B-con and blurted it out. So I turn to the blogosphere (and the non-profit world) for suggestions: what do you think would be the most effective and efficient way to organize a Blogger Corps? Please share your ideas in the "comments" section.

Reactions over at CNN

My article describing how domestic profit motives shape CNN's International newsgathering and reporting has gotten lots of play around the blogosphere. Thanks to everybody who linked to it, and for all the thoughtful discussion. Over at Daily Kos it generated a discussion thread of over 100 comments.

Somebody at CNN posted the essay in a part of CNN's internal computer system where people post news (both internal and external) about CNN.  A number of people - former colleagues as well as people I've never met who work at CNN - emailed me to say they agreed with what I wrote.  I'm told that after a few hours somebody "killed" it out of the system, but my sources tell me that somebody else put it back... right above an announcement that veteran Southeast Asia correspondent Maria Ressa will soon be leaving.

Emailed comments (I'm not naming authors) included:

"it was an unofficial must-read on the CNNI floor -- more cheers than jeers."

"If things continue as they are, might have to become a lawyer very soon."

On the essay's deletion: "So much for the free flow of information!"

As for me, I'm still reveling in my newfound freedom of speech. When I worked for CNN I had to get management's permission every time I was invited to do any form of public speaking or writing.

Blogging for change

As the blog phenom gains momentum, non-profit organizations and their philanthropic funders are asking how they can use blogs to improve their ability to get their message out.  Some groups are also starting to use password-protected blogs for better communication within their organization or between funders and grantees.

Tomorrow night I'll be giving a talk to some people from the philanthropic community. It's titled: "Blogs and the Public Interest: Does Participatory Media Strengthen Democracy?"  I'll talk about why I left a major media organization to explore participatory media, why I think it's important, and how non-profits can use it.

I'll also be running a brainstorming session on nonprofit blogging at the N-Ten Boston conference next week. I've prepared  this introductory blogging handout as a basic resource guide.  It's free for anybody to use. It can probably be vastly improved, and I welcome suggestions.

I'm also thinking it would be interesting to build a public aggregator of blogs by non-profit and activist groups. Please list any you know in the comments section and I'll start putting it together as soon as I gain critical mass.