We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Sunday, October 30, 2016

The Future of New Media

I am posting two talks given by members a new British media cooperative known as the Real Media. They are on a promotional tour throughout Britain trying to drum up support for a new crowd-funded media network. So far they have a YouTube channel on which they post video reports on various subjects. I don't know much about this group--no more than what I've posted here--but it looks like a promising idea similar to one I have long advocated (see my commentary here).
Thomas Barlow, co-founder and senior editor at Real Media, speaks at the Bristol leg of the Real Media tour.

The theme of the evening is 'The Future of Real Media', and he is joined by Kerry-Anne Mendoza of The Canary, and Craig McVegas from Novara Media, as well as Dean Ayotte from The Bristol Cable, and Elizabeth Mizon of The Media Fund.

Thomas talks about Chomsky's Five Filters - the distorting filters that lie between the truth and the news we read. He suggests that new media has an opportunity to bypass these filters if we cooperate and work together to build networks rather than compete with each other.


Writer and film-maker Elizabeth Mizon speaks about the launch of The Media Fund at the Bristol leg of the Real Media tour.