A lot of people have emailed me about my remarks, considered provocative by some, at the Interactive Media Conference in Las Vegas. Here’s what I said:

“We trust people to drive moving vehicles at high speeds on our highways. We arm them and ask them to fight wars in the name of democracy. We put life and death decisions in their hands as juries deciding the fate of their fellow citizens. But we don’t trust them to participate in the news and information that impacts their lives? What’s up with that?”

Then I told attendees, mostly managers of news web sites, that “putting a wall between you and your audience is the dumbest thing I have ever heard.”

In our “debate,” my old friend Arizona Daily Star publisher John Humenik generally supported the idea of “user-generated content,” but had grave concerns. “UGC on our site is essential — but not if it threatens the credibility of the environment it is built on,” he said. “Don’t allow your news brand to be somebody else’s graffiti wall.”

Why do newspaper publishers always seem to frame the debate over participatory media in terms of isolated bad behavior on their online forums — a problem that is easily managed these days?

Publishers can only discover opportunities that are as good for business as they are for democracy when they change the environments they’ve built and begin to respect their audiences.

The hierarchy between journalist and audience has broken down. While some fear the change, others see the enormous potential in bringing the work of professional and amateur journalists together. How are eyewitnesses, often using social networks, creating new story-telling models? What is the best way to leverage the experience of professional journalists in this new world?

Session Chair: Lou Ferrara, Deputy Managing Editor for Multimedia, The Associated Press

• Michael Tippett, Founder, NowPublic
• Kate Marymont, Executive Editor, The News-Press, Ft. Myers, Florida
• Lauren McCullough, Online Editor, The Associated Press
• David Cohn, Editor, NewAssignment and NewsTrust

Blogged by Zita Arocha

As commercial journalism evolves, the influence and impact of nonprofit media is expanding. Non-profits are developing new journalistic models; advocacy groups who once relied on journalists are now making the news themselves. How do these changes effect the delivery, dissemination, and our understanding of news? What are the potential risks and benefits?

Session chair: John Bracken, MacArthur Foundation

• Jon Sawyer, Executive Director, Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting
• Ellen Miller, Executive Director, Sunlight Foundation

Blogged by Adrienne Ammerman, (with additional commentary from the Pulitzer Center’s Nathalie Applewhite)

The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation invests $25 million in innovative approaches to journalism to strengthens local communities.

Session Chair: Eric Newton, VP, Journalism Programs, Knight Foundation

• Nora Paul, Director, Institute for New Media Studies, University of Minnesota
• Amy Gahran, Content Strategist and Independent Journalist
• Gary Kebbel, Journalism Program Officer, Knight Foundation

Blogged by Jessica Reyes

Winning others to your social cause has never been easier. Hear how three new-media organizations are leveraging the power of social networks to prevent cancer, support the arts and much more.

Session Chair: Suzanne Turner, CEO, Turner Strategies

• Joan Peckolick, Founder, Selfchec
• James Carlson, CEO, Bucketworks
• Deron Triff, Co-President and CEO, Changents
• Matisse Bustos Hawkes, Outreach coordinator, WITNESS

Blogged by Jessie Schuster.

Sponsored by NewsGator
Advertisers and media companies are undergoing a dramatic transformation that impacts how they target and reach consumers and business users alike. Widgets and syndication services are enabling a new generation of capabilities that puts the consumer in the center and allows them to surround themselves with content from their favorite sources and discover new relevant content. Advertisers, aka “brands”, are similarly responding to this shift in behavior as they invest in creative new technologies that more deeply engage consumers and lead to richer interactions. This workshop will cover these topics and provide examples of what you can do take advantage of this shift.

• Jeff Nolan, VP Business Development, NewsGator

Blogged by Jacqueline Guitierrez

Sponsored by Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive

New media is defined by online interactivity; no blog posting or article is complete with a comments section, for example. How do such virtual conversations influence, inform and reflect real-life public conversations? How can online community organizers keep participants on track and maintain order without stifling the conversation?

Chair: Hal Straus, washingtonpost.com

• Mark Jones, Global Editor for Community, Reuters
• Steve Arend, VP Digital Services, Head of Technology Innovators Group, CMP
• Robin Miller, Editor, Slashdot and SourceForge, Inc.
• Chris Tolles, CEO, Topix

Blogged by Sarah Schacht

Sponsored by Fleishman-Hillard

Social networking, un-conferences, wikis and other web tools can not only strength communities but also build momentum for brands and causes. Their success, however, depends on more than just digital connections. How can companies make the connection between online networks and real-world outcomes?

Session Chair: Susan Mernit, Senior Director, Yahoo! Personals

• Maria Gallagher, Senior Vice President, Fleishman-Hillard
• Kaliya Hamlin, Founder, Unconference.net
• Elisa Camahort Page, Co-Founder, BlogHer
• John Todor, Principal, The Whetstone Edge
• JB Holson, CEO, NewsGator
• Dr. Isaac Prilleltensky, Dean, University of Miami School of Education

Blogged by Barbara Iverson: post one, two, three and four.

Traditional (legacy) news organizations have no choice but to continue to change in order to respond to the growth of aggregators and other WeMedia players. Learn how leaders in the field are tackling editorial, business and management challenges in the culture of empowered content creatives.

Session Chair: Carin Dessauer, Senior Fellow, iFOCOS

• Neil Budde, former VP and Editor-in-Chief, Yahoo! News
• Kinsey Wilson, Executive Editor, USAToday and USAToday.com
• Jennifer Sizemore, Executive Editor, MSNBC.com
• Maria Thomas, SVP, National Public Radio

Blogged by Travis Smith

Indigenous communities around the world have long had their stories told for them by anthropologists, journalists and documentary-film makers. Today, more and more of these communities are online, telling their own stories.

Introduced by:
Sanjeev Chaterjee, Director, Knight Center for International Media

Session Chair: David Sasaki, Rising Voices

• Cristina Quisbert, Producer and Eduardo √Åvila, Director, Voces Bolivianas
• Luis Ramiro Beltr√°n, Bolivian communications-research pioneer
• Leonardo Ferreira, author, Centuries of Silence

Global Voices blogging (and additional commentary from Renata Avila)

Rather than trying to control content spiraling through the mediascape, enterprising businesses allow content to have a life of its own, as others repost, edit, parody, mashup or comment on it. While surrendering control may seem a counter-intuitive business strategy, content free-for-alls, with soft brand associations, can expand audiences, reach and influence.

Session Chair: Dale Peskin, Managing Director, iFOCOS

• Chris Willis, Footnote
• Eduard Danilo Ruiz, Danilo Black
• Michael Smolens, CEO, DotSUB
• Adam Hoey, Director, Enterprise Business Development, Proteus

Blogged by Brooks Lindsay

As the economics of industrial journalism give way to the disruption and innovation of a digital, connected culture, new models of financing and practicing journalism are emerging. What lessons from social entrepreneurship are applicable here? If journalism makes the world better, should we think of it as a social cause rather than a commercial venture? Can journalism still produce financial results?

Keynote conversations with:

• Alberto Ibarguen, President, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation
• Diana Wells, President, Ashoka

Moderated by Keith Hammonds, Ashoka

Blogged by Rob Park (with additional wrap-up by Andrew Nachison)

Everything is networked: friendship, professional life, customers, knowledge, causes and commerce. These networks represent new opportunities to invent, innovate and disrupt. What do philanthropists, advocates, social entrepreneurs, tech startups, journalists, venture capitals and everyday users now have in common? Have networks changed the nature of business?

Session Chair: Merrill Brown, Chairman, NowPublic

• Lawrence Wilkinson, Founder, Global Business Network
• Chris Tolles, CEO, Topix
• Nic Fulton, Chief Scientist, Reuters Media
• Tom Bosco, VP, Video Sales, Fox Interactive Media
• Suha Araj, Founder and VP of Strategy, Real Girls Media
• Jennifer Carroll, VP, New Media Content, Gannett
• Randy Paynter, Founder and CEO, Care2

Blogged by Lauren Movius: post one, two and three.

tags:We Media Miami 2008

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Join a fascinating group discussion on how to find good journalism online, hosted by NewsTrust.net, our social news network. We will have a diverse group of journalists, educators, technologists and community leaders for this conversation. After a short presentation about NewsTrust, we will break into small work groups. First, groups will review an article together and then talk about how to discriminate between good and bad journalism. We will also discuss best practices for helping citizens sharpen their news literacy skills.
Some of the questions we’ll discuss in this one-hour event include:

During the meeting, we will introduce what we’re doing at NewsTrust to address these questions– and ask your thoughts on how to best expand this public service — to help more citizens make informed decisions about their lives and governments.

Session leaders: Fabrice Florin, Rory O’Connor and David Cohn, NewsTrust.net, a non-profit social news network dedicated to good journalism.

In a networked culture, innovation and creativity emerge everywhere. This workshop will illustrate how small networked teams of part-time employees and volunteers collaborate to produce Global Voices Online, a human-powered aggregator of ideas emerging from every corner of the planet.

Session leaders: Solana Larsen and Georgia Popplewell, Co-Managing Editors, Global Voices