Text – Page 59 – Citizen Reporter

Line Them Up

During my time at the Village Voice, I would occasionally hear the name Jimmy Breslin. No one told me who he was, it was just a name that would sometimes appear written on a folder or a piece of paper, hell I think the desk I would sometimes sit at used to be his… but I’m not sure about that either. Whether it was conversations with people in the break room or names written on folders, I figured out on my own that Jimmy Breslin was not just a name, he was – and is, a legend in journalism.

I had never heard his voice, until last week.

Clicking on my usual dose of On Point from NPR, the guest is none other than Jimmy Breslin talking about the mob and his latest book. Now some people talk and its just a conversation, no big deal. When Jimmy began to speak, it became very obvious that HERE was a man that is not afraid of anyone and more than that, not afraid to speak his mind no matter what people might think of him.

He comes down pretty hard on blogs, but like I said yesterday, I don’t mind, people need to stop praising blogs so much and get a grip on the reality that we face as professional journalism is starved to death. Plus if a man with the experience and independence of Breslin says it, you know you’re hearing the voice of real experience talking.

Listen to this program, it is my recommendation of the week. Pay special attention to how he handles the accusations that journalists like him, along with television and film, are only serving to glorify the mafia. And enjoy his solution for crime in New York City.

A Room of Our Own

Part of being a fairly old school blogger and very old school podcaster who calls himself a journalist, means that I get invited to speak at conferences and quite often, to give my point of view on issues relating to new media. So as much as I hate to take time out of really discussing and analyzing topics that need our attention, I’ll use this post to do a little META talk and respond to a very scathing article in Mother Jones on the topic of citizen journalism.

In Adam Weinstein’s article “Stop the Press Releases” he tears into newspapers that have cut back on staff and replaced traditional…. real journalism with bloggers who produce content for free. He slams the content produced by these bloggers as filled with fluff and often – straight up marketing propaganda. Throughout the text he refers to the transforming of newspapers to some sort of collection of user generated, mob rule, mess. As Weinstein puts it:

Content has become “platform agnostic”—making print and online versions interchangeable. The chain’s newsrooms were rechristened “information centers” and reporters became “mojos”—mobile journalists who shoot their own photos and videos (badly, it turns out) and post them to the web without editing. Long-form and investigative stories were replaced by short, searchable bursts of information.

I call myself a citizen journalist because I seek to report about issues and events unfolding in the world. Of course, I do this as an independent podcaster, so I make use, as best I can, of the resources available to me from my own experiences and contacts, as well as those I can find using the internetS. There are plenty of things that traditional journalists, full-time paid on-staff journalists, can afford to do in terms of time and resources, that I simply can’t. But then again, I have the advantage of being free of their institutional and professional limitations. (Like being able to call the internet the internetS. )

If you’ve ever heard me speak on the topic, you might have caught me at a moment of over excitement where I make a sweeping statement that I don’t mean. Something like “old media is dead, good riddance!” It is fun to say, I admit it. But the truth is, I share the criticisms of Weinstein; I’ve seen newsrooms picked apart and newspapers that slash jobs for journalists who do serious in-depth research and investigation. I’ve watched as insitutions sanction blogs, pretending that they care about the spirit of openness and candidness. The bloggers that arrive on the scene and proceed to do nothing but marketing and navel gazing, while being showered with a few perks and access to elite events.

As someone dedicated to citizen journalism, despite the fact that I don’t have any formal institution behind me nor a steady funding stream to compensate me for my work… it is not my hope that newspapers disappear. Sure they’ve done some terrible work over the years. And sure, they too should and can be accused of doing their own marketing and irresponsible reporting. They may deserve a wake up call, but once newspaper owners and managing editors decide they can fire everyone and just use free work from citizen reporters, thats when it goes to far for me.

We have our place, and I can tell you from experience, we’re fighting to earn this place within the media landscape. But newspapers and news media from formal institutions, tv, radio, newspaper, they can still serve a very important role for all of us. And if business logic, and profit margins continue to recommend they just throw it all away in favor of free labor and fluff blogging… then our world will fall even further into a destructive, corrupted, abyss.

True Magic

I have experienced few more beautiful things than the simple act of sitting next to my mom and cousin as they go through black and white photos from their past in Portugal. Hilarious stories, sad stories, political stories, mysterious stories; I try to make mental notes and the occasional audio-visual recording of each one.

Recording or no recording, being in the room while these two reminisce… that’s what I’ve been enjoying most recently.

Statehood Doesn’t Pay Bills

Nationalism has long been the cause of alot of pain and broken dreams in the history of the world. Yet nationalism is the force that brings about so many changes in so many places, even in this day and age.

I was working in Portugal several years ago when East Timor formerly declared it’s independence from Indonesia. Needless to say it was a big deal in Lisbon, at some level, as the nation watched a new country set out on the quest for freedom, prosperity… insert lofty goal. And of course, as I watched the ceremony in Dili, I can’t deny a feeling, based on all that I know from world history and the inequality that is the world economy, that East Timor would never really achieve much of a quality of life. For all the beauty and nobility of independence, you could spin the globe, crunch the numbers, and know that the new nation’s odds of a prosperous survival were slim to none.

Now we watch Kosovo. I know, I know, different details, different history, some different problems. But the facts still spell out the same feelings. Independence and freedom from whatever oppression, past or present, that certainly sounds good. No wonder lots of good people out there support the declaration. Yet what chance does it’s people have in this global economy and the political chess game that leaves a majority of the new nation as a bunch of expendable pawns; useful for flag waving news footage, but not worth a serious investment or some serious problem solving strategies. Powerful forces in the world of business and politics might have been salivating at the chance to use the cause and the region for their own goals, but now they can salivate even more as disorganization and internal struggles make it easy to profit.

Now you hear the whispers in different parts of the world get louder; Turkish Cyprus, Abkasia, Chechnya, Ingushetia, Palestine, Western Sahara, Aceh… places where the calls for independence grow louder now. And who would dare speak against many of those cases, where people have suffered and hoped for independence for so long.

While I don’t speak against most of these calls, I will add a question to the equation. How will they live? Will there be a way to seriously live without the threat of famine, violence, or some other terrible factor. Do they have some way to stand on their own two feet in a global economy that specializes in picking apart new nations without the luxury of lots of money or some magic resource?

Independence sounds lovely. But when calculating and dreaming of the kind of life people should have, I wish we would factor in what happens once you’ve got that independence. That’s the part that could really help make a better future for all people.

Watchful Eye for Greenwash

Recently I started a job with a sustainable investment conference and consultancy, know as TBLI. Among my responsibilities with them, I’ll be handling alot of their web presence including the TBLI blog which is now listed in the right hand margin under “I also publish”. First let me say it is refreshing to work for a organization that does not look at blogging or ME blogging about work related themes as suspect. Cause for this blogger, being free is essential to my work, and keeping secrets is just lame.

So as you’ll eventually pick up from reading the TBLI blog, the conference is all about sustainable development. A noble goal that more most rational humans makes sense. Bringing people together, large corporations, small entrepeneurs, activists, I’ve seen a pretty good cross section of talent and experience. AND YES, I’ve seen names of corporations that I simply do not like or trust, for their environmental human rights records. But nevertheless, ignoring them isn’t a sure bet for changing anything, so perhaps it is useful that there is place where they too can join the conversation and debate.

One guiding principle that stays with me in all my work, including here on the blog, is to always keep an eye out for greenwashing. Meaning those that would pretend to be ecological, caring for how their company impacts the environment and the future of the earth. It is no secret that being green has become a catch-all, a marketing tool, a smoke screen for conducting business-as-usual.

I mention this because some of the latest items coming from the New Internationalist get into detail about just that; greenwashing. They also tear into the realm of corporations pretending to be socially responsible and the manipulation of the United Nations to that end. I intend to get in touch with some of these reporters for an upcoming podcast. I also recommend you read and beware aware in your daily choices, about who is lying about being responsible.

One more thing tho… just because there are corporations out there, lying about being green. Does not mean people should simply give up trying to be responsible consumers or responsible investors. There are still ways to verify what is or is not ecological… sustainable.. and if people set their minds to it.. we can certainly find out.

Good Postal Ideals

Ever notice all the overnight delivery-parcel company planes at the airport? They’re everywhere. Taking off, landing, filling the sky, spanning the globe.. to get your packages to you fast.

Rarely does anyone talk about the world of express delivery and the ever-growing fleets of planes in that industry, and their effect on our planet. Why even within distances between cities only a few hours away from each other, the fastest way is said to be by plane… so naturally there is yet another plane flying from one city to another, adding some more pollution to an earth that is begging for some relief.

As I think about this, I read the news out of France; TGV trains handling mail! Yes indeed, they called person who proposed this idea crazy at first, but in a country where high speed trains make long distances seem like nothing, with modernized and plentiful connections, France has the right circumstances to provide fast mail transport without having to fill the skies with more planes. And they’re really doing it!

Of course they have their share of problems once they want to go beyond France. Der Spiegel talks about problems that connecting German rail lines aren’t prepared for this plan. I know here in the Netherlands, the high speed rail lines are still few and just barely completed.

However, the point is that here we have a great solution for a problem that few nations are willing to talk about or seriously try to solve. Cut down on unecessary flights, including those dedicated to postal delivery. France wasn’t just born with this infrastructure… they planned rail transport properly some 50+ years ago .. and now not only can their businesses benefit, but so can our environment, with less emissions coming from rail transport. With the new AGV trains, we’re talking EVEN less emissions.

Just because some countries, be it here in Europe, or anywhere in the world, don’t currently have the infrastructure to do this.. doesn’t mean this is the time to simply give up. Investments should be made, elected officials should be working for such innovations, and citizens should demand this kind of solution.