So I came to the Twin Cities Media Alliance Forum sponosred by the Twin Cities Daily Planet mostly for myself and for a range of projects. Not so much with a Blandin hat on – but as I sat here I thought that some readers might be interested in the topics discuseed – mostly readers in rural areas who are using broadband to encourage citizen participation.

I’m terrible about guessing attendance but I’d say there are maybe 100 people here and more than half have computers of some sort. Half of us are Twittering as we watch. We check the speakers facts on Google as they talk; they know we will because if there were sitting they’d do it too.

So it’s fun to see the impact of broadband on community activists and storytellers (that’s the general attendee demographic) at a conference. And then it’s been fun hear about the impact of the Internet (and to some degree broadband) has had on community activists, storyteller, and media.

One fun, broadband-based project is The UpTake. They give cameras (or use video applications of cell phones) to citizen journalists and upload the video in real time. They came about for the RNC but the reach and focus has expanded. So the volunteers tape news as it happens and viewers can see it as it happens. (I knew about The UpTake – but didn’t get the real time aspect of it before today; they also archive video.)

Here are my notes from the morning…

Sadly I missed Mark Ritchie, but I decided that on a Saturday I would do my normal routine and then go to quasi-work.

Robyne Robinson

Robyne predicted the death of local media. We’ve already seen it in local papers; the local TV news is not far behind.

TV is our friend but we can’t really (effectively) communicate with it. TV is/was a public service entity. In the last 10 years, the FCC got rid of the regulations linked to community/public service. So it’s not happening as mcuh anymore. (Ann’s note: Cable stations are the exception – although a statewide cable franchising option might minimize the impact/availability of public service programming in cable.)

How can we make ourselves active again?

If you have a message to get out ythen ou need to find a way to be a subversive. TV is a corporate entity. We have an ally in the people who work for TV. The station may be corporate, but the people aren’t. So how do you reach that person? Get to know the people related to the news. Technology has made it easier. Be persistence. Be a pest until someone talks to you.

What are your credentials? Think of any connection you might have or any group to which you belong. The number of people you represent turns into ratings for the reporter.

Make your story relevant to make the sale easier to the reporter. Once you get the story – be your own PR person. Tell folks about the story, get more people to watch the story, beef up their ratings and they’ll come to you again.

Get to know your enemy! This was a great response to an attendee saying that mainstream media doesn’t do enough and then admitted that he didn’t watch the regular media. It’s hard to be subversive if you don’t know your enemy.

Minnesota FOX news got in trouble with the police for following one protestor. They did the best they could for FOX radio. (That’s not my commentary.)

How do you keep up with a base knowledge? Stay on the street. Read everything. Talk to people. It’s our job to know what’s going on in our world. Being networked isn’t enough.

Media Justice and MAG-Net – Amalia Anderson

Media Justice and MAG-Net (Media Action Grassroots Network) in Minnesota started 2004. They build alliances of regional partners to use media for community organizing and strengthening. The focus is on cultural organizing. It sounds as if they try to get the folks who need their voices raised and need a media ombudsman.

I was particularly interested in their Main Street Project, who “works to document the challenges facing people in increasingly diverse rural communities, give voice to their hopes and aspirations, and provide creative and practical tools to turn possibilities into realities.”

MAG-Net has a Ten Point Platform for Media Justice:
1. Representative and Accountable Content.
2. True Universal Media Access: Full, Fast, and Free for All.
3. Public Airwaves – Public Ownership.
4. Community-Centered Media Policy.
5. Corporate Media Accountability and Just Enforcement of Media Rules.
6. Redefine and Redistribute First Amendment Rights.
7. Cultural Sovereignty and Self-Determination.
8. Full and Fair Digital Inclusion.
9. Another Media is Possible – If We Fund It.
10. Full and Fair Representation in the Movement for Media Reform.

The Uptake – Mike McIntee

The uptake is a nonprofit media organization that started a year ago really to cover the RNC. The goal was to let citizens show their pictures and videos. They were able to grab live video from cell phones, which was important because when the reporters were arrested – their video was taken with them.

Calls the mainstream media the Legacy media. The media folks could not get in and/or out of the barriers at the RNC so they could only over so much – never mind they had their schedules set. Because The Uptake was mobile, they could take and air immediately. (CNN actually called them for video.) Arming the citizens with a voice gets a clearer vision of the whole picture.

They have a lot of volunteers who took up cameras for the cause. It was amazing to watch the video. I wasn’t in the thick of any tear gas – but watching the video kind of brings back the day and the intensity and the scariness.