Digital Newsmedia Group One

<Bold text> Background - decentralised news media (similar issues to last week) <Bold text>

-- Italic textCould look at problem through lens of following question: Who is a journalist and why does it matter?Italic text

Are news sources like Wikileaks new sources that will replace existing media formats? What’s the role of these incoming organizations?

Issues:

• Verifiability
• Institutional respect
• Deprofessionalization (dual loyalties – loyalties to company and to whatever news site gets info)
• Is one of the "problems" that the Internet provides a newer, efficient framework for giving large masses access to "private" documents and allowing leakers to broadcast those documents with ease. (Ie mainstream media isn't serving as a filter any longer). Is there a filtering problem, or just a filtering change? (info from trade secrets to national security implicated). Role of news media as good government watchdog changing?
• Privacy issues: to what degree does CDA 230 apply? (First Amendment concern vs. vicarious liability extension to breach of employee confidentiality agreements etc)

How much does this apply to blog/site that has editorial control over the posting of content?

• First Amendment concerns: What’s the role of the media and how does it relate to how our society is structured?
• Global internet freedom issues – role of media sources in

Shifting from print group with defined reporters to sources with whoever – does this make news sources easier or harder to control by diff sources?

• • Reporters’ shield laws?: Who is defined as a reporter?

Proposed federal shield law in US wouldn’t cover Wikileaks etc

• Filming of police officers with cell phone camera – online issues – phone confiscated?

3 states have laws against filming of officers on duty How does this tie into larger picture of what it means for journalism?

--Italic textWhat is the best combination to regulate?Italic text

Laws Norms Market Architecture

• FTC reg requiring bloggers to disclose when they’ve been paid for their reviews

Can we change norms to revert to less disclosure? Is that even what we want?

• Market happy with more disclosure – can drive ads so we like it

Architecture has made this possible

• All factors pointing this way to more disclosure. So where will the pushback come from?

Is the dot going where we want it to go (effective journalism)? Assuming that it is, which area are we going to find the biggest threats to this movement?

Look at case study -- Country that is using regulation and norms to keep online media at the status quo of print/broadcast "traditional" media. Ex: China: state run media – TV and news Trying to keep online media at that status quo. What are they doing, and where are the leaks?

Will new/decentralized media make countries like China more free? Or will they make those countries easier to control?" Other questions like "how?" and "what can be done?" and "should anything be done?" follow from those initial questions. Iran, Google and the GNI, how new media should work, etc. all seems to fall out of that.

When we're talking about issues of control, and how media can break away from that control, things like national sovereignty aren't that far off. I'm wary about making this too much about how China controls the network and not enough about how new media can break (or supplement) China's control.

is moving into more of a political question, about which we maybe do not really have the expertise to answer (in the sense it requires quite a lot of knowledge about the political, historical, cultural contexts in China/Iran etc that I, at least, certainly do not have at the moment).

And also the what should be done question is potentially pretty

culturally specific (as the Neiman article notes).

But that said I think how google etc responds to these types of issues is really interesting. Another article on this point: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2010/1007.gravois.html (about google map labelling of disputed territories). I'd almost be keen to drop the media specific point and focus more on what the responsibilities/obligations/best practice of US based companies should be when dealing with these countries in the internet

how google etc responds to these types of issues is really interesting. Another article on this point: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2010/1007.gravois.html (about google map labelling of disputed territories). I'd almost be keen to drop the media specific point and focus more on what the responsibilities/obligations/best practice of US based companies should be when dealing with these countries in the internet context.