What is Power? The power to shape perceptions, tastes, opinions and even emotions.
Who puts the microphone in the face? ho picks the people to frame in electronic glow? Who edits the data and who makes the cut? Who decides which person is credible, gullible, fallible or personable? No corporation of agency or politician willing makes an enemy of them. That is Power.
Everywhere one looks nowadays there is signs of the media. We are assulted by the shere amount of information that is presented to us daily. But what is the media?
There is a revolution going on in the media.
The very definition of news and journalism is changing. Audiences are no longer passive consumers but are becoming active participants and are demanding a say in what is covered and why.
A free press is an essential part of a democratic society as it enables the people to make informed choices. This country was built on a tradition of a strong, citizen-based media. From the historic legacy of the colonial press and pre-revolutionary pamphleteers, a free and independent media has stood as the guardian of liberty. As a nation, we identify free speech and a free press as our first right, guaranteed by law. The press provides the sword by which the common man defends against tyranny. It is the vehicle for ordinary citizens to influence their world. An informed electorate, combined with a free press, enables citizens to act as the 4th branch of government. The press is a watchdog, keeping corruption and abuse of power in check, a muckraker, exposing injustice, challenging the status-quo and encouraging community action and a crusader, slaying the dragons that threaten our freedom.
Just because six global corporations dominate all print, broadcast and entertainment media in the U.S. today, don’t assume we’re just going to throw in the towel…
A handful of corporations control almost all the world’s media assets. Shield laws are under siege as centuries of press freedoms are erased by presidential decree as polls show that network news actually makes people dumber. But don’t think we are ready to throw in the towel.
The State of Jefferson supports a large, progressive, activist community who, with proper encouragement, can challenge the dominant commercial messages and propaganda.
In a blink, the information age has past, this is truly the imagination age. New media is now mainstream media. Most people take for granted how much communication and network technology is revolutionizing society. For those of us early adapters we can witness and appreciate the journey.
These are dynamic times for those in the mainstream media. Audiences are moving from print to online and taking ad revenue with them. Media groups that provide the news, information and dialogue are moving, too – with people and resources.
The media is a tool. A powerful tool as much as WMD’s. What can be done by someone wielding it correctly can be a boon to mankind or the worst thing that can happen.
Some see the underground media as the real crusaders for truth and justice. Driven solely by the need to bring the real news to the public.
Personal vendettas, paranoia and superority complexes are most often the real reason behind the fanatical drive that motivates underground media.
The American Press Institute, along with Ottaway Newspapers Inc president and chief operating officer, John Wilcox and industry innovators, collaborating on “Newspaper Next: The Transformation Project,” A two million-dollar project to invent and test new business models to help newspapers thrive in the next decade. The goal is to: Assess the threat to newspapers in the next decade, including emerging competition; determine opportunities for newspapers, including implementation of available new technology; suggest executable new business initiatives—products, services and strategies—with detailed rationales; provide implementation guides for these business plans.
It took most of a year to complete and for those of us working in the trenches, this was an eternity. The task force’s recommendations were recently released in the form of a 96 page whopper PDF Blueprint For Transformation
How can communities make news a commodity?
How to capitalize on the huge shift of print audience to online media. New technology is changing the way people traditionally use and receive their news. Expanding digital technologies transfer advertising dollars away from traditional media and to the Internet.
Independent media can demonstrate greater innovation, quality and ethics than the corporate media giants. Independent media represents more than the alternative to the profit-based, corporate controlled mainstream media. By several measures it represents a grass-roots struggle of the people to reclaim power and transfer control over their community assets back to their community.
Tracking the Media Revolution 