Let's Get Started

So, who wants better media? I can tell you about one group of people who met this morning at Donkey Coffee in Athens, Ohio to talk about how to get better media, starting right here in Athens.

But first things first. Last Wednesday (May 16, 2007) the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism hosted the "Media Consolidation and Media Reform" conference (see the Web site). It was an important part of the discussion, and part of a national conversation on media reform.

At about the same time that students in the school were organizing this conference, a group of folks in the community were asking the question: why can't we get the broadcast program "Democracy Now!" on our public airwaves in southeast Ohio?

Today, these two groups came together to meet each other, to talk about the goals and issues at hand, and to see if there might be a way to move the common goals of the students and community members forward. One of the outcomes of that meeting was this group blog, which we've established to move the conversation forward, and into the public sphere. Anyone interested in being part of this conversation is welcome to join the group blog, and we encourage everyone to read it, post comments, questions, etc. We'll delete span posts, but otherwise we'll try to leave all posts as they are. Any change in that policy will be discussed and explained.

Our first goal is to get Democracy Now! onto the local airwaves, so that folks without Internet access can hear what we think is an important program. We're hoping to meet with the WOUB honchos to find out what we need to do to "make the case." We'll also be posting comments on this blog on a regular basis, comparing "DN!" coverage to other public broadcasting coverage. If you want to be part of this effort, simply add a comment of your own.

Oh yeah, a bit about me: I'm the administrator of this blog, and a faculty member in the School of Journalism at Ohio University (since 1987). I teach in the online journalism sequence in the school and am the director of the school's Institute for International Journalism. You can reach me at stewartr@ohio.edu.

Now, let the conversation continue.
Bob Stewart