WHY MEDIA?
I transitioned into Television from Journalism because I realized the power of real time video to give people a voice.
Instead of jotting down a quote or taking a photograph, I took to the streets with a video camera, and let people articulate the News for themselves. This was an exciting time, during the early nineties, when the Internet promised to truly democratize information and spread ideas through a vast network of ordinary people.
Now, I think of media not only as a tool for public opinion, news or entertainment, but as a bridge that provides important everyday pathways for communication and understanding- across ALL sectors of society.
Television, Internet and mobile devices are converging. We are living in an age of information. Across the planet this information web is like a sprawling network of neural pathways, holding the vast expression of our collective. We can look to the media to reflect our greatest hopes and fears, our most prized values and social norms. We are hooked up to this “live feed” absorbing, interpreting and firing information back out the world 24-7.
If we want to change the world, we need to change the stories we tell.
It is the responsibility of all of us, to realize the power that stories has to change our lives. It is not always easy or practical to “sell” this kind of media in Hollywood- IN fact, “conscious media” seems like an oxymoron. But that’s changing.
Media can be our medicine, a BRIDGE across borders to heal, uplift and transform our communities.
More than ever before, there is a growing hunger for quality media– not business as usual- but to pay attention to what we are channeling through the networks.
There is also a need to think outside the box, to design new media formats to assist government, green business, education networks, medical networks, nonprofit organizations and others, to accelerate their work – to reach audiences instantly with targeted information, as well as leadership, education and training.
Media is the medium that allows our global community to know itself and to start to function as a healthy whole.
Documentaries, “video letters”, news reports, YouTube and user-generated content, for example, can bridge together hostile communities, awaken understanding and forgiveness, instill respect and reverence for the human condition, and inspire ordinary people to find or to expand solutions to global challenges.
In leaps and bounds, the world is waking up to the inherent power of media and live events to strengthen our connection to one another and to coordinate our actions in unison.
Remember, media is a bridge that runs both ways. It is up to us to participate in the network of communication that informs us.
Recently, I have been working with Barefoot Workshops to empower people directly affected poverty, HIV/AIDS and war in Africa and The Middle East, to produce videos that give them a voice internationally. With the help of low-cost digital video packages, these communities are reshaping the future and maximizing the positive contributions that media has to offer society.
A decade into my career in television, I still believe in the power of one story and one voice to change the world.
PASSPORT to “the industry”
