June 30, 2011
On June 23-24, international publishers, new media makers, and media experts convened in Moscow at the Future Media Forum, a second collaboration between IFP Russia and RIA Novisti. Over 300 people were in attendance, including IFP alumni from around the world. On the occasion of this event, IFP will be launching a “Media Development Around the World” series – articles written by IFP Fellows and Alumni about the rapid evolution of global media, and how it is affecting their communities. To start us off, Nadezhda Khlebnikova reports back on the forum itself, and her work with regional Wikis…
The Practical Value of the Future Media Forum
By Nadezhda Khlebnikova |
Economic and social realities create the climate in which journalists work, and this can vary greatly across the globe – but where do journalists world-wide find common ground, especially in regards to the new media revolution?
This was the question explored at the Future Media Forum in Moscow on June 23-24, where IFP Russia and RIA Novosti convened newspaper publishers, new media makers, and key experts, including a particular session for IFP alumni. Though the participants were from different countries, they found common ground in discussions about how the old journalism model is breaking down, and how journalists are seeking new media models and new sources of revenue. It was a forum calling for change and experimentation.
The forum produced more questions than answers. After welcome remarks were given by RIA Novosti’s Deputy Editor-in-Chief RIA Valery Levchenko, and IFP Russia Director Oksana Oracheva, media communications Faculty Dean from Higher School of Economics Anna Kachkaeva questioned new approaches to journalism. She discussed how journalists and citizens are shaping the future of news together.
In this day and age, information streams to viewers from an open newsroom. Because the public now can witness how the journalists check facts, and can directly communicate with the newsmakers, the modern journalist has to be an interpreter and an organizer. Ms. Kachkaeva concluded that this new media environment challenges reporters, demanding new competence and skills.
IFP alumna Oksana Silantieva went on to discuss preconceptions of local journalists regarding content. They aim to produce news, but often disregard the mission and strategy of their paper, and whether the audience would benefit from such news. Multimedia journalism, Oksana said, is not one person creating news for print paper, internet, radio and TV. Multimedia journalism requires teamwork.
Ilya Kiriya, a professor from the Higher School of Economics, discussed how social media does not permit
full freedom for the users, because the social media creators dictated the rules and held the power. In his opinion, journalists should not simply follow the whims of their audience, but indeed are obligated to promote social topics which the public often ignores. RIA Novosti editor-in-chief Svetlana Mironuck reported Novosti’s use of new tools, and their plans to establish a new department for new media platforms and tools. Ms. Mironuck anticipates this will increase the number of citizen journalists.
This last topic brought me back to EcoBlogy Forum, a collaboration between RIA Novosti and IFP Russia, that took place in April of this year. The hot debate at EcoBlogy was: which are more important – environmental blogs or media reports? Participants agreed it is a good idea to bind bloggers to traditional journalistic rules and trustworthy information. But often bloggers don’t have comparable access to information. Journalists have to keep in mind the bloggers are primarily civic initiatives subjects, working to resolve pointed social questions; only secondly are they reporters.
Perhaps the more important question is: how we can involve the audience so that journalists and bloggers can improve community life?
From 2002 to 2010, 11 municipal newspapers of the Murmansk area, Leningrad region, Karelia, and Kaliningrad led 18 civic journalism information campaigns, without internet tools. The themes and names of the campaigns included City Time’s “The dog should walk on a leash” (Murmansk region); New Kondopoga newspaper’s “Water of Life” (Kareliya Republic); and “Vote for Clean City!” (Kandalaksha, Murmansk region).
My Future Media presentation was about RegioWiki, a European 'wiki society' which repesents community-owned information. It originated in Germany with Europe RegioWiki movies. Today, traditional German media supports Local and Regional Wikis, and the second European Media Wiki Conference will be held in France on September 2-3 of this year. LocalWikis have begun to launch in Russia, as well.
I think RegioWiki is beneficial for Russian national media. The Russian City/Regional Wikis strive to gather information and unite people. Clearly, the process of transitioning from a resource of general use to a resource with public/social potential occurs in different ways, depending on the views and abilities of the organizers.
But there are a lot of regional specialists in our cities, who produce the strongest local news. Now journalists and citizens can use the new RegioWiki platform to discuss complicated local problems, and make informed decisions.
If you are a an IFP Fellow/Alum, and would like to participate in this article series by writing about your particular area of media production or analysis, please contact us at rclift-fordifp@iie.org.
Click here to find the Media Forum on Facebook.
The sessions were broadcast live on the RIA Novosti website in Russian and English.
View the Forum agenda, list of speakers and partners at: www.fmf-eng.rian.ru.
Read more about civil education for journalists in Russia here.