A Few New Media Models

Yesterday's post talked about a few of the issues that this election failed to address, directly or indirectly.  There are more I could mention: religion and its growing impact on politics; net neutrality; and a national stance on the death penalty.  None of these got a voice louder than a whisper's worth of media coverage this election season.  It falls to those of us who are outsiders to the world of journalism to find a new model that will help move this message.  If these issues are dogs that did not bark in the 2012 Presidential Election, here are a few ways to instigate that puppy going forward.  It might take a bit of a media revolution to do it, but we do have the tools to push for better coverage of these topics.

Participate in Open Source Journalism

A couple of months ago, I wrote an post here on the idea of open source journalism.* There are many disadvantages of open source journalism, but this still might be a good model for how to insert content into the election dialog.  Open source journalism encourages reader participation.  What this model allows is the participation of the audience to create content or to add to traditional reporter sources.  No topic is off limits, but the classic example of a successful open sourced article comes to us from The Guardian's Paul Lewis.  Lewis has used the comments fields, Twitter and general crowd sourcing to find video and commentary on anything from riots to a murder, all to support his own reporting.  His stories are made stronger - and some are told completely - by non-journalists who can provide a fuller picture of the issues that are important to them.  

According to Alan Rusbridger, editor at The Guardian and champion of open journalism, this "...is journalism which is fully knitted into the web of information that exists in the world today. It links to it; sifts and filters it; collaborates with it and generally uses the ability of anyone to publish and share material to give a better account of the world."   While some issues would develop their own niche, it isn't impossible to believe that it could broaden the conversation.  Since many believe that open is the wave of the future, we would all do well to learn more about it.  This model of journalism would make user generated content the norm, and that would allow for a wider range of topics open to discussion.  That means, with vigilant use of these outlets, no topic should miss media coverage of some kind.  You are invited to take the media into your own hands.

Do Something Completely Different 

If open source journalism encourages user participation as a new media model, it begs the question of a hostile take-over altogether.  The Young Turks are the hostile take-over.

I have to confess: I have an "idea crush" on The Young Turks.  I whole-heartedly wish I had thought of this!  If you aren't familiar with this news source, I will explain a little here, and you can find much more information out at Wikipedia.  The Young Turks are the largest online news show in the world.  The brain-child of Cenk Uygur, TYT was designed to follow the pattern of a public access cable television show.  After cutting his teeth with blogging and then eventually with radio, TYT was supposed to be an open platform for Uygur to discuss the issues that mattered most to him.  What happens next is just short of revolutionary.  TYT is a show that exists only as a live web feed and through YouTube.  After just a few short years at the helm of TYT, Uygur is also sought after for television news programs.  He's forced the decision makers to notice him.

In a recent interview, Uygur says that he started TYT because he believes that online news will eventually "... eclipse network programming and that Americans are starved of public service journalism. "We're looking for journalism in all the wrong places. What's the last story anyone on television in America broke?""

Looking back at 2012, it is pretty obvious that there were some stories that didn't get covered, and so were not a part of the election conversation.  While we can talk about how media coverage is broken, and what steps can be taken to fix it, Uygur and proponents of open journalism say "don't fix it; replace it."  I have to admit that the idea appeals to me.  

¡Viva la revolution!




*Ack! Did I just quote myself? Isn't there a rule against that?