HumanKindMedia

Tuesday Links: Little blogger goes to the big media conference

Well, if you're still with me, thanks for your patience. We have proven that I can't write blogs and attend conferences at the same time.

Last week I was like Charlie at the Chocolate Factory of new media, having attended a Journalism That Matters conference put on by Media Giraffe at UMass and then the very amazing National Conference on Media Reform put on by freepress.org. Now I am suffering from an embarrassment of riches in the arena of people doing great things against what seems to be the impossibility of recapturing the media for the public.

Local place-bloggers, traditional journalists, policy makers, Senators, new media mavens and scholars all came together to represent thousands upon thousands of grass-roots and alternative media proponents around the US. Among revered reporters (Bill Moyers, Dan Rather, and Phil Donahue were speakers) and internet media experts were hip-hop bloggers serving marginalized youth, new media filmmakers, local youth radio supporters and on-line journalists and bloggers like me. We all shared a common intention: representing the voices of all the people--the raucous, cacaphonous, dissenting, diversified public the way that the American forefathers envisioned in the First Amendment--in media.

Though our constitution is faded, it's still a great set of guidelines for a thriving democracy. I love that so many people care so much to travel to a conference to learn more about how they can contribute to a free press remaining free, and how we can use stories to transform our society towards its full promise.

I heard later that Bill O'Reilly, a main face of Big Media, called our gathering "fringe left lunatics". I've never subscribed to labelling people right and left, blue and red, right and wrong, (or sane or lunatic for that matter) myself, but it's kind of fun to see how threatening a group of 3000+ who want to read and see news that's relevant, varied, and informative can be to the likes of O'Reilly.

In January I wrote a piece about what I was learning about the media and being the change in the media that I'd like to see. I hope we "new media" people can remember that all "media people" are people. I hope we can steer away from the pitfalls that have turned so many of us off to fear-driven, celebrity-filled infotainment as our primary media diet.

I hope we can remember that even mainstream media, for all its flaws, is filled with people like us who deserve respect even if we disagree with them. I hope we as readers and writers can choose against the pundits who are bent on right/wrong, left/right, red/blue, safe/threatened, with/against polarities in their reporting. I hope we demand of our media to hear more sides than one side, more stories about problems and people fixing them, less about what we should be afraid of or hate.

The conferences were filled with people just like you and me trying to make a difference in the world. It was fabulous. I have a long list of stories I hope to share over time if changing the media to change our world is as interesting to you as it is to me. In the meantime, watch this video now or save it for some quality viewing. It's a compelling explanation by Bill Moyers about "communitainment", why we should care about what's happening in the media, and what we should do about it.

Theme Tuesday: Giving Community Links

(Writing to you, late, from rainy Minneapolis) I'm starting to think that when we shift our media to stories about people helping people, giving is naturally invoked in us. Just as our fears, cynicisms, frustrations, and disappointments can be triggered by mega-media and news entertainment, I think our best selves are summoned by the changing-the-world stories, and we become more connected to our generosity.

We've been telling a lot of those stories the past 9 months, so for Theme Link Tuesday, I cavalierly thought I could come up with a "quick" list of cool links to give our 29-Day Challenge participants for ideas for places to spread their money, their time, or just to share with others. But, I can't top the ideas and touching reflections on giving that you'll find if you flip through the blogs and the forum on the 29-Day Giving Challenge community page. It's so fun to be part of a virtual giving community.

In fact, my hopes for the world rest largely on the phenomenon of virtual, web-based communities of smaller physical communities--groups of like-hearted clusters banding across the airwaves with other similar groups to create critical mass in healing the world...like you and me, joining the 29-Day Giving Challengetogether.

Change.org, Care2, Dollar Philanthropy, and, our friends at helpothers.org are just another few giving/changemaking communities I'm aware of. What are some of your favorite on-line giving communities?

It's officially Day 3 of HumanKind Challenge #4, the 29-Day Giving Challenge. People are starting every day, trying to help Cami get to her goal of 2000 participants. It's not too late for you to jump in. Here is where you sign up and here is our group page (please sign up here, too) and I'm posting my updates to the challenge on my page. Please join us. Did I mention it's so fun to be part of a virtual giving community?

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