These notes were taken by Bill Densmore
HOW HAVE WE CHANGED?
As a concluding session to the “Journalism that Matters” gathering in St. Louis, Peggy Holman and Steven Silha asked participants arrayed in a circle to describe how they have been changed by three days together.
PARTICIPANTS: Brian Beveridge, Azalea Blalock, Scott Hall, Cecily Burt, Bill Densmore, Christine Saed, Matlho Kjosi, Stephen Silha, Jim Shaffer, Martin Reynolds, Peggy Holman, Mike Skoler, Dave Johnson, Peggy Kuhr, Chris Peck, Linda Jue.
Bill Densmore – Feels like he’s come in out of the cold after years of wondering who else cares about the future of journalism.
Scott Hall—Going back with clear sense of purpose of his work as a journalist. He is going to initiative some discussions with key staff people around the ideas discussed. Going to make something of some ideas at the station.
Dave Johnson – Feels much more optimistic about the future of journalism. And feels empowered to go home and do something at the local level.
Linda Jue— Great to feel supported. Impressive that there are people in MSM are actually working on these problems. That we are not marginalizing each other on either sides of MSM vs. new media.
Mike Skoler – I’m feeling much more light hearted in general. So focused on Public insight Journalism and in a week are going to be announcing a Center for the Innovation in Journalism. It looks like he will be running that center. After three years of being ground down, he feels like he has a new community to start sharing with. It feels “sustainable”!
Cecily Burt – More hopeful about the future of journalism, feels like she has taken the first step out of her rut.
Chris Peck – Has come to some clarity about how to move a gigantic and important institution. It comes down to changing the people and helping people recognize that things have to change – individually in their own lives and in their role in journalism and how the go about changing the institutions where they are. He has spent a lot of time inside the fortress where it is very hard to organize change. But it isn’t so difficult to change the people, and he feels focused on organizing that path.
Azalea Blalock – It has been a huge dream to get with a bunch of people who care about change. She has had a dream about that and it has been a big surprise that it was journalists that would bring that revaation.
Peggy Kuhr – I am struck with so much worry we all came here with. She works with students but she worries about sending them out there. The industry is a monolith is not an inviting, encouraging place. I feel guilty at times. I don’t feel that way right now. By nature an optimist. Feels much more part of something bigger.
Jim Shaffer – He is about to be a dean of a business school. He can do both.
Matlho Kjosi – She had checked out at home. She had lost respect for the profession. But she realizes now she has a responsibility for making it different. “So I’m not checked out anymore.
Brian Beveridge – Came here not as a journalist, but as a communicator. But he understands the power of communications to create social movements. But what kind of movements are we creating. He goes away with a better sense there are still reigns on that process and it can be managed – it doesn’t have to be a runaway horse. He likes seeing concrete projects coming out that can be put on the ground. Funders will fund some of these projects. Communications can be a unifying thing within communities. The same tools used to sell people stuff can be used to empower them to make change in their own lives.
Martin Reynolds – I have a new appreciate for the Midwest, Minnesotans and all. Californians are a little snobby. A new respect for my people in the prairie. I also feel inspired by the people that I met, invigorated to go back; also focused on looking at changing the focus of newsrooms; bring more faces into the collective of why decides what news is and who plays and why it is played. He’s excited about the specifics of the plan that the West Oakland posse has put into the cauldron. He plans on asking let Dean Singleton to let Martin shadow him for a little while. I am going to ask him to let me walk in his shoes for a little while.
Peggy Holman – Sixteen people sitting here right now and there are 10 projects on the sheet of paper. I feel like I’m holding a very precious gift. I’ve worked with collectives and I know that collectives support individual sin making a difference and individuals help collectives. And I feel that is what I am holding here. These are good, rich seeds and may they grow.
Stephen Silha – I feel different and it has a lot to do with the very specific individuals who are in this room. I want to invite everybody not to be afraid to ask for help. I have two simple rules: Keep it simple and DBATA – Don’t be afraid to ask. He gives Peggy Holman a Triskale belt and helps.