News without borders

In 2005 an independent video news service was announced

What made The Real News unique? No government funding No corporate funding No advertising Viewer supported television news ….was it possible?

Initial indicators promised much The beta website received more than 60,000 visitors within the first month The website contained a business plan and some supporter videos s supported the belief that enough people were dissatisfied by television news and would financially support this new offering Donations came rolling in

True development began Seed funding sought from foundations Donation outreach stepped up Editorial approach framed Design of news site began Search for independent journalists broadened Testing for scalable online video production began

Why video?

Our desired audience was not progressive Our desired audience was those that watch the network news every night People want to see whats happening in their world eg: 911

Video online – a novel concept

Was online video viable? In a report published in July 2007, just weeks before The Real News posted its first story, Pew Research Centre in the U.S. published the following research statistics. The majority of adult internet users in the U.S. (57%) report watching or downloading some type of online video content and 19% do so on a typical day

A global team assembled

The Real News regular production of news stories in September 2007

The perfect marriage

Social media explosion

I wanna play too

Volunteers and citizens engaged We had more volunteers wanting to help than we knew what to do with BUT For those wanting to contribute editorial support, we used our own definition of citizen journalism

Definition is important Jay Rosen, professor of journalism at New York University says citizen journalism is when the people, formerly known as the audience employ the press tools in their possession to inform one another. Thats cool. Why dont we do that?

The Real News promises: Daily news imbued with verifiable facts, history and context. The Real News was realized as a global news service working with independent professional journalists that could withstand challenges through due diligence in research and accountability in reporting.

The Real News Citizen Journalist Eye-witness Researcher Videographer Chase producer

Lets dive deeper Lets dive deeper

US Election Inauguration Day…the long road to DC

Stored online Store it online Stored online by candidate or theme Initial programming budget Free to use, update, store No user limit

The Real News Cafe

Social tech + political debate

The Toronto chapter

Chapter Development

Lessons Ive learned about collaboration and citizen engagement Apply human resources and time Be prepared – toolkits, training, tips Manage expectations Utilize the social technology but – Dont rely on social tech to do everything

My vision for the future of Citizen Media

Theres enough room for everyone to play

My vision for the future of media

Secret sauce for collaboration collaboration means building a solid relationship Collaboration means establishing trust True collaboration means letting go True collaboration is hard – ego, legal frameworks, accessibility True collaboration takes courage

The opportunity is still available BBC and CNN are trapped within a national framework The Real News could tap into existing opportunities to collaborate with like-minded organizations globally They could share editorial principles Self-finance so resources are not stretched Utilize citizen journalists to bolster global teams Better utilize social technology to bolster profile and engagement

The future of news has no borders seascape No borders…lets drive