Democratizing the media

MediaChannel.org is exploring a citizens' journalism model and says all the media should as well. The site hopes to "activate public involvement in promoting media accountability and responsibility. We are interested not just in what's wrong about our media system but how to make it right." "Popular dissatisfaction with the media - estimated at 70% in some surveys that find similar disaffection inside the media - suggests that its time to go in another direction," writes Danny Schechter. The solution, is to "democratize the media by allowing citizens to be more than media consumers.... Rather than think of audiences as passive consumers, activate them as participants. Replace an elite top-down model with a more populist bottom-up approach."