From WeMedia site:
9:50 am The Power To Change The World
With the traditional media losing its monopoly on information, opinion and storytelling, all sectors of society now have the power through media and communications to make themselves heard. How can we use this new power to make the world a better place?
Session Chair: Andrew Nachison, Co-Founder, iFOCOS
- J. Sebastian Traeger, CEO, Razoo
- Jim Brady, Executive Editor, Washingtonpost.Newsweek.Interactive
- Katrin Verclas, MobileActive
- Jean Marc Coicaud, Director, United Nations University
- The Rev. Lennox Yearwood Jr., CEO, Hip Hop Caucus
- Darya Shaikh, Executive Director, OneVoice
Check out Dave Cohn’s liveblog on WeMedia’s site.
LIVEBLOG
10:34 a.m.
Brady: Washington Post‘s role is not activism. Not everything they cover has two sides, such as Walter Reed story.
Shaikh: OneVoice has used technology, trying to go from from micro to macro.
YouTube has been a big part of spreading their message. “People aren’t getting what they need from traditional media.” Facebook and SMS messaging have also fueled the growth of the movement, which has grown from 250,000 to more than 600,000 in the past few years.
10:42 a.m.
Verclas: Recent studies show that 3.5 billion people have cell phones.
Mobile phones are important in many ways and SMS is a hugely powerful tool. People have their cell phones on them constantly, and that allows them to keep in touch all the time.
10:59 a.m.
Yearwood: Bloggers made the Hip Hop Caucus. “Media is really life and death. Media has the ability to move the masses. It has the power to make the guilty innocent and the innocent guilty.”
When you are oppressed, you have to created a way to tell the story. The Internet now helps to tell that story, such with.
“The revolution may not be televised, but it will be uploaded.”
“Media is one of the most critical moments to deal with people getting engaged.” If media does not shed light on injustices, people will die.
Power to tell a story takes different forms: “Music has always been the drumbeat for freedom.”
Bloggers and independent media get stories out that aren’t told by the mainstream. Sometimes, such one of his experiences on Capitol Hill, alternative media force stories into the mainstream.
11:05 a.m.
“How should media be used to create a better world?” Nachison asked.
Verclas: Told story of the murder of Indian model Jessica Lall who was murdered. The state of the Indian justice system was called into question after the accused was let off, but media attention brought the case back to retrial and the accused was convicted.
Grassroots movements now are helping bring stories to the mainstream. “There’s an equilibrium now that very interesting and very dynamic.”
11:25 a.m.
There’s been some back and forth about non-profits and the Washington Post, limited space and resources and how people aren’t using news outlets such as the Post to spread their message.