By Dot Maver

Imagine being in a room filled with people dedicated to investigating the truth, to exposing wrongs, to sharing good news and solutions, to creating a better world. A gathering where everyone is seriously interested in learning from one another and sharing resources with the understanding that together we are stronger and more effective. Welcome to the world of alternative media where collaboration and digitalization were two key themes at the Association of Alternative Newsmedia and The Media Consortium Conference in San Francisco February 5-7, 2015. Kosmos Journal is a proud associate member of The Media Consortium and we were delighted to join our friends and colleagues including Mother Jones, Truthout, Yes!, Democracy Now, Care2, and so many others.

The conference opened with Amie Stein, Director of Training and Development for Local Media Association, offering a keynote in which she stated, “social selling has become a sales discipline,” concurrent with a series of workshops on Media and the Police. For three days we immersed in a virtually non-stop sharing of trends, new apps and software, discussion around funding and fundraising, and a celebration of excellence and impact (including six Impact Awards) along with a recognition of challenges and opportunities in journalism and alternative media – local to national; national to local. One of the obvious challenges is competitiveness; the clear way through is an opportunity to share resources and key information from local stories to support national, and for national to offer a means of distributing stories that deserve broader coverage.

Malkia Cyril, founder and executive director of the Center for Media Justice, gave a keynote calling alternative media to take action and clearly stating the obvious need for reporting from within communities in order to hear the truth. Diversity arose as an ongoing thread of the conference leading to an Unconference Dialogue on the Power of Intentional Diversity in the Newsroom. More than one comment was made noting it is more than a racial issue. It is a systems issue. We need a new story. Another highlight was a keynote by Cenk Uyghur, founder of The Young Turks who shared many stories of his journey in media as he made clear the need for honest and authentic reporting. His stories spoke to this need and, like others throughout the conference, he mentioned the sad loss of trust in a major anchor who allowed an initial misconception to become his story which is a lie. Trust is key for successful reporting.

Analytics and measurement was another topic covered, with particular focus on impact through social media. How to measure that? Meghan Peters offered pragmatic advice on broadening your audience with Facebook, and in various workshops strategies were discussed for utilizing Twitter and LinkedIn as well. Stephanie Brower with Chartbeat offered a dynamic presentation on optimizing social traffic on your website. Knowing where to lay emphasis, i.e. homepage hits, click throughs, and time on site makes a difference for members like Kosmos.

Conference sponsors shared responsibility for awesome receptions, coffee breaks and treats while offering excellent resources for publication needs and online presencing. The networking opportunities were terrific and it was noted more than once that talk leaned in the direction of solutions. In fact, Yes! Magazine was given a shout out at the Partnering with Activists panel for their positive solutions-oriented approach to journalism.

Challenging discussions ensued in and out of workshops regarding the value of print publications, the ever-growing digital world of media and the ongoing need for funding. Many think this shift to online media will benefit from more authentic reporting from the field and from community members themselves. It was an informative, inspiring and ultimately very helpful gathering, offering a unique opportunity to hear from colleagues, learn what’s new in the field, and discover possibilities for cooperation.

It is clear that the landscape is changing. For us, Kosmos Online is a clear priority although we know that print is still very important as well. A story was told in one of the sessions about a local alternative print paper becoming the mainstream paper of choice as the major news outlets stopped printing. There was quite a reaction to this as the alternative print publication did not want to be mainstream. Could it be that the systems shift heralded by the growing digital technology and online media presence is actually alternative media becoming mainstream?

Technology journalist Kara Swisher gave the final keynote to a packed room of AAN and TMC members and summed it up perfectly, “Journalism is changing and we must be adaptable and not wish it was different.” It was a great conference. Onward.

Kosmos consistently looks for trends and changing systems with a focus on the new civilization that is emerging around the world. My take away from this conference is that alternative media is seeking to cooperate on behalf of a systems change that puts everyone, including community members, in a position to contribute to telling the authentic story and an online presence is a key ingredient.