Much of the time we at Axiom News feel like exiles in the wilderness for the alternative news ecology we’re trying to create here.
We have a double mark across our foreheads in that not only is our ideology different but also our business model.
While there can be a certain thrill that comes with being the radical, it also often has a lonely feel.
But we are beginning to see great possibility in a day when the efforts of a growing number of “awakened” media folk converge.
There’s the UK-based Transforming Media initiative. Described as a global group of pioneers, it is exploring how media “created with wisdom and compassion” can contribute to peaceful prosperous living.
We also just learned of the Center for Collaborative Journalism at Mercer University. The New York Times is calling it “one of the nation’s boldest journalism experiments.”
The center is combining Mercer’s liberal arts-based journalism and media studies program with the expertise of The Telegraph, Georgia’s third-largest daily newspaper, and Georgia Public Broadcasting, the third-largest public broadcaster in the country based on population reach.
The collaborative is supported by nearly $6 million in grants from several foundations. Its mission is to “transform a city that has remarkable inherent advantages in geography, higher education and culture, but weakness in attachment, openness, economic strength, and overall sense of community.”
Peggy Holman and Journalism that Matters are also worth noting. Journalism that Matters focuses on cultivating “healthy journalists” and “lively, informative” interaction between journalists, educators, reformers, and community members. Since 2001, it has hosted 14 “unconferences” intended to contribute to both the health of individuals and the collaborative efforts that spark positive change.
Meghan Keener, a co-ordinating producer with the Discovery Channel, has published a dissertation that explores the strengths of mainstream media and how we can build on those to create media that increases global well-being.
The Thomson Reuters Foundation is the charitable arm of the renowned media outlet Thomson Reuters. The foundation has one ambitious goal: action for impact, CEO Monique Villa writes in a recent Huffington Post blog post. She says this aspiration is being realized in a myriad of ways, from covering the world’s most under-reported stories to providing “much-needed” mainstream journalism training in countries around the world.
And these are just some of the efforts underway.
It does seem we all have a common, if differently nuanced, intent.
While we also clearly have our own roles to play in realizing that intent, we at Axiom News imagine the possibilities if we all gathered under one big tent, if for no other reason than to exchange a few stories, maybe sing some songs, dance a little. We could just celebrate our atypicalness — from each other and from how media has come to be done. Then see what happens.
What do you think?
