"Publicizing Truths with Consequence"
Independent Media Strategy
Please
carefully read this
This is
going to be a highly collaborative weekend and understanding the design before
you come will make it far more productive and enjoyable.
- The strategy summit organizing
committee is deeply indebted to the Institute of the Commons' Marc Tognotti and
Kenoli Oleari who brought decades of
participative group process
experience to critical aspects of the conference design leading up to and
including the Goal Setting and Action Planning phases.
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Activity |
Description / Process |
Detail / Notes |
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FRIDAY |
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12:30-1:00 |
Staff/Student/Volunteer orientation |
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Explanation
& discussion of conference
processes and logistics |
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2-4:30 |
Be the
Media workshops |
·
Investigative
Reporting ·
Exploiting
New Technologies ·
Community/Regional
Network Building |
Introductory
workshops for students, aspiring journalists, et al. Session
resource people include media students, Dave Mathison, Mickey Huff, Elizabeth
de la Vega, Barbara Trent, Janice Matthews, et al. |
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4-7 |
Registration; affinity group creation |
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5-7 |
Remedial Attention Engineering 101 - Countering MSM Censorship of
History, Issues, and Candidates |
Resource Team: Brad Friedman, Elizabeth Kucinich,
Barbara Trent, Elizabeth de la Vega |
Briefing
discussion of this Summit's political backdrop, current media dynamics, and
tactics to publicize countercoup views and voices |
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7:00 -
7:20 |
Introductory Conference Framing
- goals & process orientation |
Peter
Phillips, Kenoli Oleari, Marc Tognotti |
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7:20-8:00 |
Affinity group meetups |
·
Getting
acquainted and sharing info on each other's origins, skills, concerns, hopes
for gathering ·
Discussing
how they can work together to contribute to the conference. and their
collective experience o
Discussion
of necessary roles (see right) ·
Discussion
of conference goals, meta-themes (master narratives), media synergy, how to
keep their group apprised of activities in all three theme tracks |
Consistent
and/or rotating roles: ·
Discussion
leader. ·
Recorder. ·
Time-keeper. ·
Wall-person. ·
Breakout
Session Reporters |
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8:00-9:30 |
Entertainment & cash bar |
Khalil Bendib comic presentation and music |
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SAT |
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9-11 |
Opening plenary |
Welcome
and Statement of Purpose - 15 min Peter
Phillips, David Kubiak What
does our democracy need to hear and see? - In
Search of Some Big Picture/Deep Structure Consensus on the Basic Threat(s) We
Face, Our Potential Media Power, and Credible Political Goals Kristina Borjesson, David
Cobb, David Ray Griffin, David Lindorff, Peter Dale Scott, Cindy Sheehan... -
Assessing our current growth, strength and potential as a transformative
political force Jason McKain, Danny Schechter, Barbara
Trent, Toni Whiteman -
Explaining the structure, theme division and goals of summit format - and how
to extract the most juice from this event Kenoli Oleari, Marc Tognotti |
·
I:
What citizens need to hear and know to preserve our democracy ·
II:
What independent media can do ·
III:
Short intro to conference process |
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11-12 |
Affinity groups: 1st huddle |
·
Choose
group roles* (see right) ·
Discuss
reactions to the morning session. ·
Identify
meta-narratives and goals to place on walls. ·
Deploy
for PM breakouts (assign reporter(s) to each session). ·
Start
posting items on walls. |
*Group
roles: ·
Discussion
leader. ·
Recorder. ·
Time-keeper. ·
Wall-person. ·
Theme
Session Reporters |
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12-1 |
Lunch |
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Theme Breakout Sessions - Overview - Design: Each session will consist of very brief (2-3 min.) resource team
self intros - who they are, what they've studied, and their areas of concern;
15-20 min group interaction deciding how to best use them to achieve the
session's goals; 30 min discussion; 10 min group interaction prioritizing
summary Q&A; and 20 min responses. |
1) narrative/Messaging theme - How and what we need to communicate Challenge:
Discovering in
2008 2) news Source development theme - What we need to know and share Challenge:
Rebuilding the power of investigative journalism, supporting whistleblowers,
and creating a comprehensive influential source of trenchant non-corporate
news 3) networking/technology theme - What we need to deliver the goods Challenge: Designing/exploiting new media tech, alliances and networks to distribute news further, faster, cheaper with far more political impact |
Three
breakout tracks -
Messaging and Master Narratives -
Empowering Investigative Reporting, Whistleblowers & News Source Creation -
Networking Technologies and Alliances To reiterate design issue: panel members are NOT "speakers" but resource people for the group to gratefully exploit, and other members of the session group may be called upon as well...... |
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1-2:30 |
Theme Breakout Sessions 1 |
narrative/Messaging Session I - Understanding the current zeitgeist, propaganda models, and public mind Resource Team: David Altheide, Dennis
Bernstein, Kristina Borjesson, Marc
Pilisuk |
Resource Team lists are still fluid
and partial... |
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news Source development Session I - Maximizing the clout of whistleblowers and investigative reporting Resource Team: Charlotte Dennett, Brad Friedman, Ray McGovern, Colleen Rowley, |
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networking/technology Session I - Marrying the best network tech
and distribution models out there Resource Team: John Perry Barlow, Lauren Elliott, Carolyn Goosen, David Mathison, Jason McKain, |
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3-4:30 |
Theme Breakout Sessions 2 |
narrative/Messaging Session II - Identifying common themes underlying diverse crises Resource Team: David Cobb, Gerard Colby, Frank Dorrell, Bonnie Faulkner, Robert Fitrakis, Michael Nagler |
Resource
Team lists are still fluid and partial... |
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news Source development Session II - Designing collaborative platforms for non-corporate news and analysis Resource Team: Lenny Charles, Janice Matthews, Mickey Huff, Peter Phillips, |
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networking/technology Session II - Evolving into and supplanting the mainstream Resource Team: Russ Baker, Dennis Bernstein, Jalal Ghazi, John Scott, |
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4:30-5:30 |
Affinity Groups 2nd Huddle |
·
Choose
group roles* (see right) ·
3-minute
report-backs on earlier theme breakouts. ·
Discussion ·
Identify
items to post on Narrative and Goals walls. ·
Deploy
for Sun. breakouts (assign reporter(s) to each session). ·
Post
items on walls. |
*Group
roles: ·
Discussion
leader. ·
Recorder. ·
Time-keeper. ·
Wall-person. ·
Breakout
Session Reporters |
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7:00-9:30 |
Entertainment & cash bar |
Flash Points Poetry Slam hosted by Dennis Bernstein |
Includes
open mike segment - All
social message poets welcome... |
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SUNDAY |
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9-10:30 |
Theme Breakouts Sessions 3 |
narrative/Messaging Session III - Framing dangerous news and investigative findings in ways that motivate Resource Team: Khalil Bendib, Bruce Budner, Mike Ferner,
Cynthia McKinney, Aldo Vidali, |
Resource
Team lists are still fluid and partial... |
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news Source development Session III - Launching collaborative platforms
for non-corporate news and analysis Resource Team: Kristina Borjesson, Bill Densmore, |
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networking/technology theme Session III - Session III - Turning revealing
info into action on the ground Resource Team: Richard Becker, Sarah Ruth van
Gelder, Richard Greene, Barbara Trent, |
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10:45-11:30 |
Affinity groups 3rd Huddle |
·
Choose
group roles* (see right) ·
3-minute
report-backs on earlier theme breakouts. ·
Discussion ·
Identify
items to post on the Narrative and Goal walls. ·
Set
time(s) and place(s) for next meeting(s). ·
Post
items on walls |
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11:30-12:30 |
Lunch - working lunch for 2 teams: Goal-Sorting Team Narrative Team |
·
Goal-sorting
team fine-tunes arrangement of Goals into clusters in prep for Reality
Dialogue ·
Narrative
team prepares interim “report” on the Meta-narrative wall that organizes and
consolidates posted material. This is a factual account/summary, not an
interpretation or prioritization, and should refer to all material posted. . |
Goal-sorting
team includes appropriate volunteers and planning team members. Meta-narrative
team of appropriate volunteers selected by planning team |
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12:30-1:30 |
Reality Dialogue |
·
Entire
group gathers at the “Goals” wall. ·
Posted
Goal clusters are read and group discusses whether groupings are correct
and adequately named. ·
Adjustments
are made. ·
Once
this is done, the group is asked if everyone can live with each of the
respective Goals. ·
Goals
not accepted with near unanimity are moved to a “Not Generally Agreed Upon”
section of the wall. ·
There
is no discussion, except to clarify any goal not understood -- which is done
by asking the person or group that posted up to explain what it means. ·
There
is no other discussion than this. ·
New
goals can be added and similarly processed. |
Framing: ·
Clarifying
that this is not a decision-making process; it is simply a way to see where
this group is right now. ·
It
is a snapshot of the current reality. ·
It
is acknowledged that this may change and there may be much more discussion
needed on many items and that this can certainly take place at other places
or times. Primary
objective: Make a list of goals which we can say this group supports with
unanimity at this time. |
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1:30-1:45 |
Narrative Team Report |
·
The
narrative team presents their report on contents of the Meta-narratives wall
and briefly discusses the consolidation process to create an outline for a Port Huron-like
manifesto from the conference to inspire and engage the wider independent
media community. |
Re - Actual
creation of this statement may be undertaken by a team arising during
subsequent Action Planning phase. |
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1:45-3:00 |
Action Planning |
·
Room
locations are assigned for discussion of each of the “Generally Agreed Upon”
Goal clusters. ·
People
self-select and go to those locations. ·
People
wanting to work on a “Not Generally Agreed Upon” goal may do so if they
choose. ·
Each
Action Planning group assigns one person to each group role (same 4 roles as
in Affinity groups). ·
Each
group identifies one or more actions they are willing to take to achieve the
given goal. ·
If
appropriate they can break into subgroups for each specific action, or they
work together throughout. ·
Next,
they follow the action-planning guidelines** (see right column) and report
back to the entire group in plenary format as described below. |
*Planning
guidelines: ·
Identify
long-range goal: what is it that we want to accomplish. ·
Identify
several shorter-term milestones that will indicate progress towards this goal
and estimate when these might be accomplished. ·
Identify
other resources (people, groups, technical, material, $$) from within the
larger group or elsewhere that are needed to achieve this goal. ·
Suggest
ideas for contacting or accessing these resources. ·
Identify
first steps as well as who will do these things and by when. ·
Create
a brief directory of action team names and their contact info. ·
Choose
a group contact person and means of group communication. ·
Set
up a method for collaboration, like a web forum, mailing list, etc. ·
Set
a time and place for a follow-up meeting. |
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3:00-3:40 |
Action team report-backs to plenary
with feedback |
·
2
min report backs including requests for specific types of help from others
present. ·
Feedback
from the large group for each team. |
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3:40-4:00 |
Action teams meet again |
·
Some
groups will meet alone. ·
Some
groups might join up with other groups they need to network or collaborate
with. |
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4:00-4:15 |
Sustaining outcomes |
·
Planning
team describes any methods available, follow-up meetings or tools in place
for networking or keeping in touch following the conference. |
For
example: ·
·
Web
based networking ·
Newsletter ·
List-serve ·
Future
search ·
Other
follow-up meetings ·
Other |
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4:15-4:30 |
Closing |
·
Everyone
gets a chance to say something. ·
Depending
on time these comments may be open-ended or limited to just 4 or 5 words that
represent where participants feel they are right now. |
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Important
Conference Features
Affinity Groups
Unlike most conferences
which are largely podium or panel powered, the driving force and creative core
of this gathering are the 8~9 member "affinity groups" to which ALL
conference participants will be assigned during registration.
Affinity
Group Purpose:
·
Serve
as the primary brainstorming nexus for the conference.
·
Share
and synthesize information from various theme breakout sessions since everyone
can’t attend every session.
·
Build
collaborative working relationships.
·
Generate
ideas for posting on the “Meta-narrative” and “Goals” walls (see Posting Walls
below).
·
Be
constructive and creative, and make sure everyone is heard.
Affinity
Group Process:
·
Meet
formally 4 times during the weekend (and informally as desired):
o
Friday
evening (7:00-8:00 PM)
o
Saturday
morning (11:00-12:00 PM)
o
Saturday
afternoon (4:30-5:30 PM)
o
Sunday
(10:45- 11:30 AM)
·
Assign
roles each time they meet, changing people as appropriate in the roles each
time:
o
Assign
a note-taker / reporter to every breakout session to give 3-minute report-back to
the group afterwards
o
Select
a discussion leader, timekeeper, recorder, and wall-person for each affinity
group meeting,.
·
Affinity
group tasks:
o
Share
3-minute report-backs from each breakout session
o
Discuss
report backs
o
Identify
and list ideas for (1) meta-narratives and/or (2) high-level group goals, and
post them to the walls.
o
On
Sunday morning just before action planning, all affinity groups will review
proposed goals together.
·
Affinity
group agreements:
o
Be
efficient.
o
Keep
meetings congenial and have fun.
o
Be
supportive of each other.
o
Follow
through on agreements.
Group roles (detail):
·
Discussion
leader - Makes sure everyone gets to talk.
·
Recorder
- Summarizes everything everyone says on flip charts.
·
Time-keeper
- Keeps the group aware of the time or serves the group in other timekeeping
assignments.
·
Reporter
- Prepares group requested reports.
·
Wall-person
- Records/posts things the group wants placed on “Meta-narrative” and “Goals”
walls (one posting per item)
Posting-Walls
Two
centrally-located “posting walls” for collecting, displaying and organizing the
following material generated by the affinity groups:
·
Meta-Narratives
(to deepen, coordinate and harmonize messaging)
o
Themes,
memes, stories that reveal the common denominators and interrelationships
beneath and between the diverse issues attendees (and single issue groups) are
concerned with
o
Material
posted to the Meta-Narratives wall will be sorted and reviewed by the group for
consolidation into a Port Huron-like vision statement to encourage deeper, more
synergistic messaging in the independent media community as a whole.
·
Goals
o
Larger,
overarching collaborative goals that participants would like to see this group
accomplish as well as suggested actions and required resources to achieve
respective goals. For example, one section of this wall might feature
"Creation of a comprehensive and trustworthy non-corporate news
source" and a listing of actions and requirements to realize that goal.
Another section might feature "Building synergistic national/international
networks among independent media sources" and technical and organizational
ways to realize that goal.
o
Data
posted to the Goals wall will be used in a “Reality Dialogue” on Sunday to help
identify concepts that are supported by everyone present and can best serve as
the basis for action planning and commitments from the group.
Theme Breakout Sessions
The
conference will break into three tracks for breakout sessions:
o
Narrative
/ Messaging – Discovering the meta-narratives
o
News
Source Development – Creating a trusted, influential non-corporate news source
o
Networking
/ Technology – How to collaborate and exploit technologies to distribute news
There are
two sets of breakout sessions on Saturday afternoon, and one on Sunday morning.
Each
affinity group will ensure that some members are present at each of the
sessions to report back content to their respective group.