More than 2000 attendants converged on Memphis last weekend to attend the third National Conference for Media Reform, hosted by Free Press. In an effort to spread the lessons learned, we have collected a few highlights from panelists who addressed the feasibility of online communities as alternatives to top-down mainstream media. Full mp3 audio recordings of the various conference sessions are available here.

Citizen Media

At Friday’s “Quality Journalists=Quality Journalism” discussion, Linda Moore from the Commercial Appeal in Memphis decried that mainstream media reporters only have time for a “he said, she said” version of coverage since ever-expanding media conglomerates hire less and less investigative reporters, and instead, rely on a shared assignment editor.

Audience member Jim Joyce, Vice President of the National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians echoed this concern. He gave the example of Los Angeles, in which MSNBC, CNBC, network news, and the local television station have “homogenized the news assignment desk of all four operations … and are cross utilizing people in the field.”

Perhaps this is where crowdsourcing could really come in, allowing citizens to add value to a story. “Decertifying the press,” as Jay Rosen calls it, could help create “media that strengthens our democracy,” a phrase that FCC Commissioner Michael Copps used at Friday’s conference rally.

This kind of democracy, says Dan Gillmor of the Center for Citizen Media, means that “anyone can play in this democratization of the tools.” At Saturday’s “Citizen Journalism: Making an Impact in a New Media Landscape” panel, Gillmor brushed off concerns regarding digital accessibility:

“I’m not so worried about the “digital divide” in terms of the gear, the equipment. [The internet is] becoming more affordable all the time. It will, before long, due to the relentless pace of technology and progress, be pretty much in the hands of anyone in the developed world who wants to use it.”

Access

Saturday’s “Making Our Voices Heard: Youth Media Across the Nation” panel featured different organizations working to teach young people the tools of media production and bring them into the process. Paul Billingsly of Yo! Youth Outlook told participants: “Youth media has become the way to work with young people in the youth development field….Creating video, making music, developing Web sites, creating magazines, and bringing in young people usually from marginalized populations.” Engaging youth to create their own content and value their own voice contributes to youth development and empowerment overall, he said.

In one example, Yo! produced a documentary based on the experience of one of their interns who survived a bullet wound. Students interviewed the youth who survived the gunshot, creating a collaborative piece written, produced, and narrated by young adults. The story then got picked up by the New York Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, and the San Francisco Weekly.

To further the conversation, panelists offered online resources for creating and distributing youth-produced content, including the Youth Video Exchange Network and Generation PRX.

Social Tools

“Bubbling Up: MySpace, YouTube, Social Networking and Political Change” covered successful online communities. Referring to the VideoTheVote Project, which had citizens act as their own election protection team, James Rucker of ColorOfChange.org insisted that “power is moving from institutions to individuals,” especially in the case of blogs, which ”have come to a point of maturity because the marketplace has been forced to let in formerly unknown, talented writers.” There is still room to grow, however, says Rucker. Readers often resort to the mainstream media because they cannot trust the smaller Internet players who don’t have a strong brand. Here, panelists recommended the RapLeaf reputation system.

Joan “McJoan” McCarter of the Daily Kos brought up different working groups that have emerged on the site from pseudonymous people finding each other on various social threads. DailyKos uses a program called Scoop in order to have a high level of community moderation and avoid “thugs” and “flamers.” These phenomena are truly bottom-up, she said, without any guidance from the Daily Kos administration. Referring to those online communities, McCarter also reassured that the “enlargement of the conversations brings some chaos but also significant change.”

Net Neutrality

With the recent FCC ruling on AT&T’s purchase of BellSouth still in the headlines, net neutrality was a major focus throughout the conference.

At the “Winning on the Ground: Strategies for Stopping Big Media” panel, Jenny Toomey of the Future of Music Coalition explained how a neutral Internet was integral to recent changes in the music industry. “Artists are tremendous mascots for net neutrality because they saw that the digital world was supposed to bring rockers directly to their fans. A tiered net won’t do that.”

James Rucker of ColorOfChange.org insisted in his Saturday panel that the net needs to stay as a “publishing platform in which everyone can participate,” particularly with the communities of low-income people of color in mind who Rucker believes would be the first to go in a tiered net.

But some activists have cautioned against declaring this ruling a win for media reform. Dan Gillmor called the ruling into question, pointing out that even though AT&T vowed not to obstruct equal access to the Internet, the corporation pulled a fast one on us, consolidating their ownership power and agreeing to abide by a provision they would’ve been forced to adhere to anyway.

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Tanya Paperny is a student at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She volunteers as a reporter for KCSB-FM and has interned at WAMU-FM in Washington, DC.

Heather Buchheim, who contributed to this report, is a graduate of the University of California, Santa Barbara, where she acted as the Associate News Director for KCSB-FM. She now works for the Consumer Federation of California.