Emily and I recently returned from Amherst, Mass. where we attended the first annual Media Giraffe conference, “Democracy & Independence: Sharing News & Information in a Connected World” and talked about all of you here at the Clearinghouse.
We sat on a panel with the amazing Jon Donley, the esteemed, Pulitzer prize-winning editor of NOLA.com. The three of us talked about Katrina, Jon’s experience covering the disaster from a bunker in New Orleans, and our experience of creating the Been There Clearinghouse. The title of our talk was “How Katrina Changed the News Ecology.”
According to Bill Densmore, the organizer of the conference (which was superbly done,) the conference itself was centered, in part, on the question: are the motivations of a journalist like Jon to do what he does any different than the motivations of bloggers like us to do what we do? Jon said he entered journalism to do what he can to make the world a better place. I think Em and I would answer the same, especially when it comes to the Clearinghouse.
The conference filmed the session, and, for those of you who have, say, a spare 90 minutes, click here.
Emily, Jon and me:
Two moms (with six kids between us) and a network of bloggers and other people online made a lot happen with the Clearinghouse. That means right now, any one, in any place can use the internet do the same — to help people in need, raise awareness of an issue or motivate people to seek social change. No matter what the circumstances are, what kind of government is in place or what the “authority figures” tell us about how things are “usually” done, there is no doubt, whatsoever, in our minds that one by one, through the internet, we can do significant and important things to make the world a better place.
Awwww, hully gee! Look at that guy stuck between two wonderful women!
Seriously, it’s no miracle that we try like heck to save ourselves. The miracle for us is the love that you’ve shown to strangers.
Thanks,
Jon