Drizzling rain masks the emerging
autumn colors of the hills of the Catskill Mountains. It's
11:00 am on Sunday and most of the people in attendance at
the 2009 Images
& Voices of Hope Summit
have taken to their cars off to Albany and other NY
airports. With them they take enriched spirits and heads
full of ideas about the impact of media messages on our
world and our personal lives. More than ever the uncharted,
uncertain and seemingly unstable state of our media expands
the conversation to places equally uncharted. Many hang on
dearly for the life of their careers and all are on high
alert about what is inevitably coming down the road.
It is this quality of the unknown that
makes for some pretty interesting exchanges.
What will Apple's new "tablet" do to the
way we receive our news? How can we trust the news coming
from cottage-based operations that consist of one blogger?
What is this new (or is it old) phenomenon of citizen
journalism? Should they be trained according to professional
standards? Can advertising morph from its sleazy reputation
for how it sells soap to creating positive change in the
thinking and habits of its viewers and readers? Are the
younger generations only getting news from YouTube? Are they
getting news at all (the real question)?
If we don't yet have concrete answers
about these and a myriad of media-related topics, the folks
who gathered this weekend at Peace Village sure gave finding
them a valiant try.
My head is swimming. Sure, it's partly my
slow-healing ear infection, but mostly it's a healthy stupor
of information overload. It'll take some time to process
this.
In a charming yet simple setting in
the Catskills, I rubbed elbows with giants once again (refer
to my blog about
this last year—I was big on the giant factor).
This time I was in the presence of
David Fanning, the grand poobah of
course, but it's him, right? of PBS's
Frontline,
probably one of, if not the bravest news programs available
on the US television. Stories that no one else tells, that
no one particularly likes to look at, and stories that have
more depth than our sound byte brains are deluged with on a
daily basis. We must bring something to our viewing of
Frontline stories. In a word, it's something that most
television programming allows us to ignore—our conscience.
I say
bravo to Mr. Fanning's presentation. My heartfelt wish is
that PBS and the Frontline family steadily overcome any
"preaching to the choir" scenario and work to expand their
audience. Truth in journalism, hey, you've all heard of
that, right? Wouldn't be a bad element to return to the
living rooms of more viewers.
June Cohen from Ted was there. You
know, TED, the conference and subsequent taping of them that
dazzles us online with their plethora of 18 minute talks. If
you DON'T know TED, go there now: http://www.ted.org.
In my inimitable, perpetually adolescent way, I approached
June at the end of the conference, so enamored with her
current and past work, I actually said, "Had I been a bit
younger, I would say—'can I work for you?' or better yet—
'I want to BE you.' From her response, I don't think she
thought me an idiot. Her smile looked accepting. Media
intersecting with technology is/was her specialty. Media
intersecting technology needs to be of interest of us all.
Dinosaurs included.
How about this for titans of the
advertising world? There were the two Mikes (Hemingway and
Hughes): respectively, the people behind the Dove "Real
Beauty" campaign, and the "Geico", Walmart "Save More, Live
Better" campaigns. Brilliant minds sharing a passion for not
just the art of selling soap but bringing real valuable
goods that are not tangible. Things like, self-esteem,
sustainability, compassion, etc. Not the usual staples we
think of when we think of advertising minds, but thankfully,
conscience has been creeping in there as well.
Seth Farbman of the gi-normous
Ogilvy agency, particularly the OgilvyEarth division,
presented a brilliant and controversial peek at the ad
campaign called "Hopenhagen,"
the theme of this December's critical worldwide summit on
climate change in Copenhagen. People in the audience, mostly
journalists, had a lot to say about all of the presentations
from their typically natural enemy, the admen. Some
bristled. Most applauded. What the presentations offered was
a look at the very best of the best (and conscious) work
being done, in my estimation, anyway.
Remember: Hope not Cope, or from
Cope to Hope. Anyway. It's a good idea. See more at:
http://www.hopenhagen.org.
Kim Spencer, talked about his work
at Link
TV which
I'm embarrassed to say I hadn't heard of. International news
"unfiltered" (scary) that never makes it to the usual
network and cable channels. I know a friend who subscribes
to Link and thinks it's unmatched. Smart people there.
There's tons of news of all sorts available but they've
included a world music channel and another on spirituality.
Spirituality coverage, with NO affiliation on a serious news
network is not your mom and pop's typical evening news fare.
Good for them.
Speaking of the blending of worlds, like
including music or matters of the spirit with traditional
(if there is such a thing) news, the IVOH summit is
masterful at blending. Throughout the more linear "work" of
appreciative inquiry sessions where groups discussed some
prescribed questions and the witnessing of presentations,
there were moments woven in probably not seen at most
conference that discuss the media. There were readings, some
very intimate, from participants who drafted essays in the
style of National Public Radio's "This I Believe Segment."
There were little journals given to all of us for periodic
moments of reflection when we were asked to stop what we
were doing and jot down something we wanted to hold onto,
express, or share later.
The lovely Brahma Kumaris Spiritual
University organization hosted the conference for us
soldiers of the media making every possible comfort
available to soothe our souls while we stretched our minds.
Optional meditation class was available at sunrise and for
those of us who love our snooze buttons, tai chi and chi
gong classes came at a more civilized 8:00 am. Midday,
Collette led the energetic through the woods with the lure
of possible deer or bear sightings At the very least, they
would be treated to the beginnings of fall's magnificent
color palette.
I'm writing this now while I'm still
fueled with the summit's magic, yes, I said magic. There's
something about this place, these hosts, and these people,
some of whom I met last year, that make this an event I
vowed never to miss for the rest of my life.
Easy fast to my tribe members! Om Shanti
to the rest of you.
|
Send by email |
Share on Facebook |
Tweet it |
