Seattle, Jan 2010

Brian and Kathy did an email exchange. :-)

1. Tell me about your work and how it led to saying "yes" to this confab...

Kathy: I've been involved in the 'future of news' conversations in the PNW for the past year. I am interested in this event because of its potential to expand the discussion beyond the usual suspects. I am also interested in observing people who are attending their first 'unconference' -- I'm interested in the dynamics of spontaneous organization.

Brian: JIMMY STEWART IMPERSONATION: This isn't fair at all, I've got to follow @kegill and all I'll have to say is "I agree."

I have haunted the No News is Bad News and similar events for a while now, myself and I do agree, new input will be welcome. I also lead a small organization looking to contribute technology to our "news ecology" particularly in social networking and citizen journalism. You can see what we're bringing to JTM, with no life yet breathed into it, at http://opensciencefoundation.com/jtm/ We've put together a special version just to give it a go, here.

2. It's clear the relationship between journalists and the public is changing...

See an image of Jody and Kathy (Neither could get the insert feature to work - no "upload" option on the "ad image" popup)

1. What meaning did you take from the conversation?

Non-profit issue organizations and non-profit news agencies need to collaborate in the revitalization of the news industry. Their interests converge in that the collapse of the journalism industry has made it difficult for non-profits to get their issues covered adequately (or even at all), while those seeking to create non-profit news sources need financial and organizational resources that non-profits have much greater ease developing. The challenge remains to create a working model for collaboration that retains editorial independence from funders.


    2. Share a standout story or quote for each of you.

Rosalinda creates and oversees local councils that bring often antagonistic groups (farmers and farmworkers, politicians and low-income migrants) together to produce safe housing for migrant farmworkers. The collaborations are pretty remarkable.

 
    3. What surprised, challenged, inspired, and/or delighted you about the conversation?

Finding common cause between the communications challenges of non-profits and the business challenges of the journalism industry.

The conversation between us immediately came to a bubble after I reminded her of where we had first met.

Roughly six years ago during the 2004 presidential election, I came to see Karen and her husband Larry talk about the action they witnessed on the streets of New York City during the RNC protests. As professional "legal witnesses" it was their job to accurately observe and be willing to testify about any unconstitutional conduct exhibited against the people by state authority figures.

During the time I attended college in Bellingham, I frequently encountered Karen and Larry in their bright green "legal witness" shirts at political events around town.

After catching up a bit, we discussed our motivations for attending the conference. I, being a young professional in between jobs, talked about my ambitions to latch on to the exciting convergence of news and civic engagement. My goals for the conference are to meet as many people as possible and gain better insight of the emerging news ecology, with the ultimate goal of finding a way to be directly involved in it's formation.

Amy and I are already acquainted but hadn’t spoken in a while, so it was great to catch up! First, I think we were surprised to note that both of us feel somewhat isolated in our jobs – hers in a nonprofit organization (Washington Low Income Housing Alliance); mine as a radio news producer (Public News Service). We both are hoping for a sense of community and a healthy dose of “greater purpose” in attending the (un)conference. I think it’s cool that Amy is taking the time to learn more about how the news biz works. She sees this get-together as “part of a larger movement,” and wants to know more about what it takes “to make important stories appear.”

We both acknowledge the sometimes-uncomfortable blurring of lines between news and opinion, as well as between reporters and community/nonprofit groups that provide story ideas, and we feel there must be continued separation in order to maintain legitimacy. We also acknowledge that’s getting tougher to do.