Submitted by Matt Renner on Fri, 05/28/2010 – 2:17pm
Session Reporter: Matt Renner
Conversationalist 1: Matt Renner
Conversationalist 2: Linda Jue
“We’re all dealing with different parts of the elephant.”
The conversation between Linda Jue and myself (Matt Renner) was extremely productive and helped me to prepare for the upcoming conference in Detroit.
We discussed:
- The ghettoization of Independent Media as only something for liberals and elite/majority liberals at that.
- The way this “liberal” stigma keeps powerful journalism from being taken seriously.
- The fear or heightened caution of institutional funders to be associated with Independent Media because of this association with liberalism and the implied political slant.
- A possible takeover of Independent/New Media by traditional “old boys club” insiders who have been displaced as the traditional media crumbles.
- Past collaborations of Independent/New Media organizations and how they could be more effective.
- The different focus elements of the upcoming conference and how to make sure we spur collaboration instead of waiting for direction.
- How to incorporate racial and class diversity into New Media models.
We discussed Truthout.org, The Media Consortium, the Investigative News Network, ProPublica and other media organizations.
I came away from the conversation feeling like I had made a real connection with someone with a deep background in Independent Media who I look forward to meeting in person. Hopefully Linda came away from our conversation feeling like she met someone with a real passion for Independent/New Media and for figuring out how to make it work. We’re going to work together to continue to organize Independent/New Media activists and develop a more powerful and representative New Media landscape.