Press Institute for Women in the Developing World

Britt Bravo — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 17:40:54 -0600

Great post, Kim! I totally agree. I am hoping to interview the founder of the Press Institute for Women in the Developing World this month.

Another interesting citizen journalism project is Not Just a Number.

Britt Bravo
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Why We Need a Strong Citizen's Media Movement in 2008

Kim Pearson — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 23:35:58 -0600

You know the state of journalism has become serious when Harry Potter and his wizard brigades have to come to the rescue. But that's just what has happened -- the Harry Potter Alliance, a group that tries to "fight the Dark Arts in the real world," has created an online music campaign to raise awareness of the dangers of media consolidation.

That's just one of the media trends to watch for in 2008.

Here's another: Documentary maker and media activist Danny Shechter underscores the need for media activism in this essay published Dec. 31 on the Common Dreams site, Citing a recent article from The Economist, Shechter argues that mainstream media are falling prey to media manipulation techniques similar to those practiced in the People's Republic of China during the reign of Mao Tse-Tung.:

"This Economist article suggests that Mao’s media practices have also been adopted in the US and Britain through the use of syncophantic reporters, media management strategies and repetition.

"Have the Chicom-commisars been watching Fox News to see how Rupert Murdoch, a big fave of the politbureau there, has marketed his own party-line news?

"And what about CNN?

"Similar propaganda techniques are driving news presentation here and there. Yes, alas, we too have ideological correctness and sloganeering all over the media spectrum...."

The whole article is definnitely worth a read.

One trend we need to see in 2008 is coverage of the world's trouble spots that gets beyond the narrow lens of US interests and the War on Terror. Last week's assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto underscores that. In all the tributes to Bhutto's idealism and laments for the prospects of democracy in Pakistan, it was this commentary by a Pakistani journalists Huma Yusuf about the ambiguity of her legacy that raised the biggest questions in my mind:

"THE SHOCK and confusion I feel after learning about former prime minister Benazir Bhutto's assassination is strangely familiar. One incarnation of Benazir, a woman I thought I knew and wanted to be, died on Sept. 19, 1996, when she was implicated in the death of her estranged brother, Mir Murtaza Bhutto, who was brutally shot, allegedly by police officials in a planned attack outside his home..."

When the person seen as the last best hope for the democratic future of a nuclear power is widely believed to have been complicit in her own brother's murder, it's clear that we are talking about a very different political culture from what Americans would readily understand. When we have presidential candidates presenting themselves as the best leader to negotiate our future relationship with Pakistan, I want to know how they deal with a culture so rife with rumors and evidence of palace intrigue.

The post-election crisis in in Kenya which spillling over to uganda, along with the ongoing occupation of Somalia further underscores the need for more comprehensive international reporting.

On the domestic front, we need to be alert to the resurgence of scientific racism in our public discourse. Back in October, DNA co-discoverer Jamees Watson raised a ruckus by saying that Africans were intellectually inferior. In the meantime, though, white supremacy is making inroads in the public square. Racism Review has an imformative post on several think tanks that peddle ideas coming straight out of a 19th century eugenicist's handbook. When former CNN anchor Paula Zahn held a dialogue on race back in Dec. 2006, I was shocked to see Jared Taylor of American Renaissance Magazine participating in the panel discussion without being identified as a leading white nationalist. More recently, William Saletan had a series in Slate on race and intelligence that relied on the specious research of J . Phillippe Rushton. Rushton heads the eugenicist Pioneer Fund, and was interviewed on NPR's News and Notes in October. See this analysis from the Southern Poverty Law Center to understand why that is a problem .

On the flip side, we news consumers need to do what we can to support smart, innovative and humane reporting. One example is the Jill Leovy's Homicide Report, which attempted ot profile every individual murder victim in Los Angeles in 2007. This post from Radical Negative eloquently summarizes part of the reason that Leovy's reporting is so special:

"These reports are unusual and poignant because of the specificity they give to the circumstances of the murder, and the victim. When the police arrived to find the body of a black man, who they would learn was named Adam Blount, it began to rain. Jeffrey Sinclair, the black son of an incarcerated mother, was found dead beside his bicycle. The reports begin with general facts that situate the murder, and then descend into particularities, ending with a detail that grounds the account in the unique then-and-there of the crime scene.

"This situated account of death is an admirable and compelling way to appreciate the weight and significance of isolated human events in a large nation where powerful and pervasive forces are at play. Martin Heidegger would counsel us that death is special for the way it separates us from commitments to other thing and people. The situated account, on the contrary, posits that death is unique in that it places us, forever, in a circumstance that is entirely our own, while at the same time connecting that circumstance to the structures, identities, and histories that brought it about."

The Homicide Report succeeds in part because they understand Robert Niles' advice to news organizations about the best way to partner with citizen journalists:

"The failure of one "citizen journalism" Web business after another this year ought to be showing news publishers that a business model based on readers doing reporters' jobs for free isn't working.

"That does not mean that readers do not have information that can build the foundation for a website. Or that readers are unwilling to share that information. It's just that they are not, except in rare or special circumstances, going to produce that information within or according to traditional journalism story formats.

"Instead, ask for information in nuggets: A photo, a short eyewitness report or a questionnaire. Use crowdsourcing techniques to collect sets of data that you can use to provide a well-reported investigative feature or breaking news package."

In 2008, we need a culturally competent, diverse, well-resourced and independent media more than ever. It's up to us to demand it.

cross-posted at Professor Kim's News Notes

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Press Institute for Women in the Developing World

Why We Need a Strong Citizen's Media Movement in 2008