News without bordersNews 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• Emails 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 what’s 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 The Real News regular production of news stories in September 2007news stories in September 2007

The perfect marriage

Social media

explosion

I wanna I wanna play tooplay 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.”

That’s cool. Why don’t 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-witnessResearcherVideographerChase producer

Let’s dive deeperLet’s dive deeper

US ElectionInauguration Day…the long road to DCInauguration Day…the long road to DC

Stored onlineStore it onlineStore 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 I’ve learned about collaboration and citizen engagementApply human resources and time

Be prepared – toolkits, training, tips

Manage expectations

Utilize the social technology but –

Don’t rely on social tech to do everything

My vision for the future of

Citizen Media

There’s enough room for everyone to play There’s enough room for everyone to play There’s enough room for everyone to play There’s 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…let’s driveNo borders…let’s drive