ME and Ophelia

CITIZEN JOURNALISM vs. MAINSTREAM MEDIA
'We Media Blog' blogs the 'We Media' Conference May 3-4, London

The BBC gets blogging and reports on global voices debating citizen journalism vs. mainstream media and how the media is changing.

The BBC's We Media blog provides live coverage of debates and ideas coming out of the We Media global forum.



The forum is a two-day conference being held in London on 3 and 4 May, hosted by the BBC, Reuters and the US-based think-tank the Media Center.

The event is looking at issues like trust, the role of media in a connected society and the power of consumers to make the news through citizen journalism.

The power of trust

The We Media Global Forum brings together the trailblazers of the connected society - the thinkers, innovators, investors, executives and activists seeking to tap the potential of digital networks connecting people everywhere. More about the Forum. See Forum blog

Seeing is believing

"The image used for the branding of the We Media conference in London has stirred up a debate in the blogosphere. We did not use the image on this blog as it did not fit our house style, but you can find it on the We Media site run by organisers The Media Center, a US think tank", writes BBC blogger Alfred Hermida May 2, 2006 - excerpt:



The image is of an Arab woman holding up an ink-stained finger. On his blog Salam Adil, an Iraqi living in London, questions the use of the photo. In a thoughtful analysis he decontructs the image, asking if the photograph was staged and questioning its authenticity.

Whether or not he is right, it highlights how delicate the issue of trust is. As he concludes: "If you can't trust this image, how can you trust the media?"

Click here to see sidebar list of confirmed participants to date - ranging from Reuters CEO Tom Glocer to British blogger Suw Charman.

American blogger Ethan Zuckerman is blogging the conference he's not attending keeping us up to date with what's going on there from an American perspective.

Many of us have English as our mother tongue but come from hugely different cultural and educational backgrounds which means we don't or can't feel or see things in the same light. Not sure why I've just added that line, I guess it's a cryptic note to myself as a reminder for future reference, and while I'm at it, pointers re my question What is Propaganda? and definitions of Propaganda - information that is designed to make people feel a certain way or to believe a certain thing:

The information is usually political. It is hard to tell whether the information is true or false. Very often, the information is confusing and unfair. The word 'propaganda' comes from Latin. At first, it meant 'ideas to be spread around'. But in First World War, it came to mean 'political ideas that are supposed to be misleading'. Propaganda is like advertising in some ways. But advertising is usually trying to sell something and propaganda is usually political.

The BBC's 'Have Your Say' now has its own blog.

PS Hello dear blogmates, sorry I've had to delete HaloScan commenting facility as email notification had broken and I couldn't access Admin to delete spam. It is possible to comment here via Blogger by clicking on the date at the end of each post. I'll have to contact Blogger for advice on how to fix template - meanwhile hope you don't mind continuing to email me instead.