Notes from Video, Education, and Open Content

Below are my notes from the Video, Education, and Open Content Conference in New York. I posted these on my MySpace blog, but I wanted easier access to the links, both for myself and my students. I will continue to update the links, as I've found at least a half dozen more. This is an exciting time in education and the world. We have unprecedented access to technology, and as we try to get a handle, we must attempt to broaden that access to all. Just think about people who cannot afford to go to school having access to course materials from MIT and Yale University. If today's primary mantra is freedom = the ability to consume, then access to cultural heritage worldwide and the ability to recreate can greatly enhance that freedom, taking us through terrain never before seen. Equalizing access should be a top concern in education, always balancing the creator's rights with those of the users. Once you visit some of these links, you'll understand why I'm so excited about these possibilities.

Video, Education and Open Content: Best Practices
Production, Distribution, Technology and the Law
May 22-23, 2007

Opening Remarks

Frank Moretti's information can be found at the above link, as his name kept eating everybody else's code. Don't ask me; I'm not a programmer.

Cathy Casserly,William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Program Officer in Education at the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.
The goal of the foundation is to equalize access to knowledge and improve teaching and learning. Today's students are on separate but parallel tracks: what they are doing in classrooms and what they are doing in their daily lives.

Peter B. Kaufman, Intelligent Television, CCNMTL, President and CEO of Intelligent Television and Associate Director of the Columbia University Center for New Media Teaching and Learning.
Atlas Media: new division of theatrical documentaries.
Open Culture
1. Demand for online video has exploded.
2. Opportunities to produce have exploded.
3. Access is undeniable. Moving images archives are being digitized.
4. Portability: access anywhere.
5. Laws and economics are changing.

Video and education – new worlds...Appreciating the new role of video in education
Peter Brantley, Digital Library Federation, Executive Director of the Digital Library Federation.
Challenges that video pose for digital libraries
Digital libraries act as repositories. Libraries have been about physical things, basically offline (not on network). They have been passive. Libraries purchased and licensed objects, and people go to the library to use these objects. But now people make own media; access is assured. Dramatic changes in library: cafe at Berkeley with students' engaging in collaborative work. Music and sound not things like books. How can library be active? Video is didactic: it allows for exchange.

Murray Weston, British Universities Film and Video Council, Director of the British Universities Film and Video Council.
The council promotes production, study and use of moving images and sound in U.K. universities through subscriptions. You must be a registered student. How are moving pictures used in education? He provided this list:
1. As instrument: illustration – visual aid;
2. For enrichment: affective domain;
3. For reference as primary or secondary record: use in historical research and scholarship/ for cultural reference;
4. As scientific device: as scientific record
5. As a creative medium: communicate, inform, etc.
Its status in scholarship is underdeveloped in many respects. Importance of context and provenance are of concern as well as access questions. Metadata is king (not always content). Ask questions like: what do most teachers/students want? We need funds to set up and maintain. There should be collaboration of owners, formal reviews, agreements, sharing licenses: ultimately we should seek international harmonization and clarification.

Paul Gerhardt, BBC Creative Archive, Executive Director of the BBC Creative Archive.
BBC conducted project for 18-months, and gained 100,000 registered users. Purposes included education, national history, etc., and content areas included fact and news areas. The archive was restrained with entertainment because a complex set of issues. BBC is heavily regulated (overregulated). It conducted a public value test, which lasted 6-9 months. It was an exhaustive study to discern the value to people and market impact. In a post-broadcast world funding compounds these challenges. The BBC is committed to making content and access more open, but doing this is a huge challenge. It created a digital curriculum, multimedia based on school curriculum. Due to a complaint filed by EU, the BBC pulled plug. The first phase includes share license, and it is still continuing to archive.

Keynote address...Remarks from a recovered archivist and filmmaker, Prelinger Archives and Internet Archive, Rick Prelinger, writer, archivist, filmmaker, is founder of the Prelinger Archives, co-founder of the Prelinger Library, and Board President of the Internet Archive
Best practices include the following:
1. Leverage of existing resources. buy out of rights bundled in educational media.
2. Segmentation
3. Openness: not one-shot deal but on a continuum. There is a broad spectrum of interactions in education, and open earth content should include not just access but production. People need the freedom to remix: to get their hands on object and play. We need to share, to network experience with others. Interoperability rests upon openness, and we should default to open to share materials as freely as the law allows.
4. Moratorium: to declare a moratorium on closure and complex copyright laws. Points of departure: bridging production, archive and education. Archives: gone retail, unprecedented response from new users. Sites like YouTube have raised public's expectations, and it's hard to see how institutions can meet them. Repurposing material is cheaper than making new material, especially with entertainment. When producing content, we should default to openness, not encumber form the start. We should work on exclusivity: distribution channels should allow for openness.

Production – university best practices...A review of several among many innovative university productions
John Frankfurt and Mark Phillipson, CCNMTL, Phillipson is Coordinator of Teaching, Learning, and Library Services at the Center for New Media Teaching and Learning at Columbia University. Frankfurt is Educational Technologist at the Center for New Media Teaching and Learning at Columbia University.
Havel – The Havel exhibit was unusual for center; it was events driven as opposed to content driven. It includes interviews that viewers can watch by chapters. The center negotiated with CNN to use raw footage, allowed to take hours of footage and cut to fit content of the site. The site includes different types of interviews: archives, production, and donated footage. Much of the content was gathered under open, but there are mixed resources from library. Falls into the Digital Bridges Initiative: Havel remains in website but some day will be in repository, share and harvested. It is a RSS website. It involves the recontextualization of video. Videos were collected, and users can add to their notebook. The chapter goes into notebook. You must register to use the site. (I've been trying to figure this site out for two days; I'll let you know how it comes out).

Diana E. E. Kleiner, Yale OER VLP, and Paul Lawrence, CMI2, Kleiner is Dunham Professor of History of Art and Classics at Yale University and Director of Yale's Open Educational Resources Video Lecture Project.
Yale's OER project was funded by the Hewlett Foundation, and will be available through Open CourseWares by Fall 2007. It involves:
1. Video to make available certain number of courses
2. Faculty recruitment that are willing to share intellectual property
3. IP/Collections
4. Full arts and sciences curriculum
5. Innovation
The project is a confluence of content and medium, and fits with Yale's objectives for globalization overall. Video is optimum vehicle for presentation. Initially it will involve seven courses but will expand in the future. The overall goal is a open classroom worldwide free. The project hopes to capture:
1. The person: video will feature professor and unique pedagological approach;
2. A place: video allows open live classroom and ability to share information;
3. The learning process itself: widespread audit, accessing information, and is about gradual intellectual revolution;
4. A creative remix: go beyond auditing, picking and choosing what to view; its
focus is on content. The project optimizes the element of choice, building curriculum. Courses might pose problems depending on securing rights to use.

Scott Shunk, Visualizing Cultures, MIT, Project Director of Visualizing Cultures at MIT.
The site provides a functional platform for the content through examination of historical record through images. John Dowers, professor at MIT, wanted a way to distribute the content as well as a way to wrap text around images to add value to content and his work. The project is digital image scholarship: content (cultural institution), scholars and knowledge to contextualize content in order to allow access to materials. The content now focuses on Japan. It provides content that is broken into units. The core exhibit is text that uses embedded images. These are presented in visual narratives: themes from text, illustrated like a graphic novel. When you provide no context, it becomes difficult to navigate the content. It is a means to add levels of context and have open, free and available; it is also meant to empower with added level of relevance. Moreover, users can create their own productions. It is a scholarly context around visual imagery that enables users to create own pathways into content.

Mike Cubit, MediaVision, Case Western, Director of MediaVision at Case Western Reserve University.
MediaVision allows web delivery of lecture content and other forms of content. The expectations of students are high, and his department uses students as leverage when comes to tackling adoption by faculty. Examples of MediaVision's content include Telesurgery, Wireless Mesh Project, Red (an orchestra), and Second Life. You can view these at Case.TV. There's a searchable archive with fully indexed and tagged and tagged content. While students mostly use video, they do not use audio often. Most students indicated they use video to clarify concepts.

Production – producer best practices...Exemplary educational productions from outside the academy
Margaret Drain, WGBH, Vice President of National Programming at WGBH.
We shall Remain
Car of the Future
Teachers Domain
Adoption
Above are examples of projects using technology for education. These programs include NOVA, American Perspectives, and others. Each program has digital platform. We Shall Remain provides a Native American perspective: WGBH gave cell phones to Native Americans. They are looking for five strong stories about the struggle to survive. They did this for two reasons: it is increasing participation, and they are attempting to bridge the digital divide. They partnered with museum in Arizona. They provided a Nokia camera phones worth about $750-800, and they trained in narrative storytelling. Car of the Future is a way to help today's drivers. The web is used for open production. They put production content online and encouraged feedback. This brings the audience into the process of production. NOVA is the site most used, and it is critical to reach people. Most is open content, but some is not. It is difficult to get carte blanche for mash up, etc. Teachers Domain involves segmenting archival material: 1,000 clips or resources. Some of the content can be downloaded and remix; it provides four levels of usage. The Adoption project is not funded. They should find out this coming week. Its production actually begins online, but then ends up on television. They will provide three families with cameras who will record each week as they go through the stages of adoption.

Thomas Lucas, Thomas Lucas Productions, director and producer and President of Thomas Lucas Productions.
Lucas is an independent producer. He primarily works with scientific data. He creates simulation alongside of theory and data collection. Others from different places can access data and collaborate.

Curtis Wong, Microsoft, Principal Researcher and Manager of the Microsoft Next Media Research Group.
Wong is working to create deeper understanding by providing layered stories, contexts, and information. The narrative provides the story; the context enables the users to explore their interests. One example he provided was the Codex Lester: DiVinci liked organic metaphors. So the graphic included a tree, with a number of other smaller graphics. Microsoft is not thinking about new media, but rather the next media as well as interactive television. Links to examples are below.
Commanding Heights
The Age of AIDS.

Distribution – platforms and technologies – best practices more...Distribution options and best practices for educational video
Obie Greenberg, Google/YouTube
Obadiah T. Greenberg, now at YouTube, helped to launch UC Berkeley's iTunes service.
What is YouTube doing in education? YouTube has reached a critical mass for audiences. To keep up with demand and provide services to students, UC-Berkeley launched its own site on Google Video on September 26, 2006. They include courses, events, sports, etc. YouTube is the host site. YouTube accounts offer branding opportunities. Branded channel includes a watch page. For example, NBA is treated as a user. Play list with sequence of videos is provided. Also, there are communities. with sub channels. Border is an image map.

Stacey Seltzer, Joost, Senior VP of Content Strategy, Acquisition and Operations for Joost.
Joost offers peer-to-peer interaction with television content. It is currently in beta form and only available to friends. It enables people to move information around the internet and file sharing. It is third generation technology that has been optimized and offered to public over the Internet. It deals primarily with closed content, offering a streaming experience. A series of platform widgets enable users to interact with content and share content. Metadata enables users to organize and provide more information about content. It is a channel driven system.

Donna Liu, University Channel/Princeton University, Founder and Executive Director of the University Channel Project at Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.
University Channel is an attempt to lower barriers of production and distribution. It is essentially a blog that offers a series of lectures. It distributes to television stations for rebroadcast, and its primary goal is to get the content out.

Ben Hubbard, University of California – Berkeley, Special Events & Video Services Manager at the University of California – Berkeley's Educational Technology Center.
UC-Berkeley distributes webcasts and podcasts of lecture materials and other content. They have partnerships with Google and Apple. Sakai Webcast Systems. Keep eyes on building frameworks.

Archiving – best practices more...Accessing educational video archives
Karen Colbron, WGBH, OpenVault, Manager, Media Library and Archives, Digital Access Management Initiative, WGBH.
Open Vault uses emerging technology to archive and provide a framework for access to rich media material. It brings content from New Television Workshop, Say Brother, and The Ten O'Clock News with grant funds in order to link across content to facilitate access. This website allows functionality; users can scroll over item and the title appears in top left. The site provides a description of the item as well as a notes feature. Users can send the URL to share information. The page also has a feature that is similar to Netflix, by showing items of similar interest. When browsing the archives, users can browse five levels deep. (Not all of the clips are available, though many of these clips are listed).

Jane Johnson, Library of Congress MIC Project, Library of Congress MIC Project Manager.
The MIC provides a tool for discovery. It is a database that provides a layer of functionality. The repository provides a platform for collaboration. AMIA collaborates with the Library of Congress and is funded in large part by the National Science Foundation. A major component to the MIC is a union catalogue, which brings together images from participating archives allowing users to search different archives nationwide. It pulls up moving images. It is an attempt to address what Johnson called a crisis in film preservation. They conducted a feasibility study to explore the integration of databases and discover access policies. They hope eventually to hold the rights to metadata and are currently exploring different metadata strategies.

Andrea Kalas, British Film Institute, Head of Preservation at the British Film Institute National Archive.
This archive enables the preservation and public access to moving images that played role in history and provides different voices. It is a co production with BBC. One example is the preservation of Mitchell and Kenyon films, portrait photography of the everyday lives of those in Britain. They have attempted to build information about the films to give the films context. The collection contains over 800 nonfiction titles 1900 to 1913. In addition the collection includes The Open Road, a collection of travelogues by Claude Friese Greene, a pioneer filmmaker exploring the uses of the color process.

Archiving and production – best practices...New approaches to bringing production and archival sensibilities more closely together
Jeff Ubois, Intelligent Television, Director of Archiving and Access Solutions at Intelligent Television.
There is a need to explore collaborative approaches to archiving. This is especially true as television gains a memory. NetTV is not television. Online communications and archives should be built around production, collaboration and cataloguing. Different organizations, such as Democracy Now!, have begun to tap volunteers on Internet to lower costs. There is a need to explore public-private partnerships.
ParkRidge47
Torture Taxi

Nan Rubin, Thirteen/WNET, Project Director, Preserving Digital Public Television, at Thirteen/WNET. and Kevin Devine, Thirteen/WNET, Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at Thirteen/WNET.
There is a need to preserve digital public television. The station is currently using its existing system to preserve. Through the American Archive, some materials can be made available, especially for use in educational settings.

Video and open content...The expanding role of video in the open content movement
John Dehlin, Open CourseWare Consortium, Director of the OpenCourseWare Consortium based at MIT.
Openness requires a major mind shift. The consortium is attempting to managing growth and maintaining quality. Currently the consortium deals primarily with course materials. Some of the courses have lecture video. Attempting to find ways to preserve course materials. They are struggling with how to make more affordable and richer at the same time. Some universities have take down policies, in case complaints about fair use arise. They are currently collaborating with Itunes Europe. They are attempting to find the funds to build learning communities, and want to create a vertical rather than simply horizontal functionality.

Video, education, and the law – best practices...Rights and other legal considerations for producers, distributors, and consumers
Eric Saltzman, Creative Commons, lawyer and filmmaker, is a member of the Board of Directors of Creative Commons.
From the moment a work is created, it is copyrighted. There's nothing about letting people know the work is copyrighted. For owners who want tell people up front want people to use work, creative content licenses are available on website. They are meant to compliment to copyright. Many licenses require attribution. Some content is more complicated, when users take material from other sources and use. FATHOM. MIT courseware content use licenses that permit derivative work. Science commons are funded by the Hewlett Foundation. Learning Commons attempt to coordinate world of open educational resources.

Josh Nathan, Thirteen/WNET, General Counsel at Thirteen/WNET.
The station has a strong partnership with educators. Rights of copyright owners are negotiated through manner, territory and term. Also they deal with exclusivity. It's all about money. Many want to give up few rights for the amount of money they can get. However, technology is changing the viewership. New economic models are developing, especially with how content is distributed. Rather than video being for sale or rental, it's now specified as home use. How do rights holders get their money? Nathan also foresees that the idea of exclusivity will change. It's early to determine best practices but there is a need to tag and track content to make money. We need to figure out how to build and maintain archive, and we need to rethink public broadcasting. Classroom use needs to change.

Technology – best practices...Technology issues at the intersection of video and education
Maurice Matiz, CCNMTL, Vice Executive Director and Director of Technology at the Center for New Media Teaching and Learning at Columbia University.
The center is trying to get faculty to use technology in a useful way. Trying to employ what it has learned over the years about technology and education. Several aspects are considered: what faculty wants students to learn; faculty needs time for brainstorming; and finding open market. He mentioned TechCrunch. There is a need to know the university's IT stance; are they protectionists or will they open up the content? Finally, students become collaborators. Students often do not know how to use their computers as an educational tool.

Shen Tong, VFinity, Founder and President of VFinity.
VFinity is a social network, which attempts to use the web as a social phenomenon and cultural force. Challenges include difficulties for libraries/archives, broadcasters/publishers, music labels, and film studios. How do we make content equally available to everyone? The software attempts to harness power of the web. It includes an intuitive web interface; users can find video/documents/images. Users can manage in a unified way. The software offers a seemless self-service, controlled vocabulary and free tagging, flexible and open architecture. Users have a dynamic workflow that includes Browser access and is search centric.

Abram Stern, UCSC/Metavid, co-founder of the Metavid Project at the University of California Santa Cruz.
Metavid is a collection of open content, attempting to create open access of U.S. House and Senate. Stern contends the film is public domain. CSPAN did not agree, so Metavid bought about $1,700 worth of film. They are archiving not just video but also closed-caption text. The linear video posed problems. They had the video files but needed to make the files useable. They found information about who is talking based on OCR name data. The archives use Ogg/Theorn software, (which Eric Blankinship let me know Macs have plug-in so I can download files). Metavid enables users to grab smaller portions of video.

Teaching and learning – best practices...Examples of the purposeful use of video in the university
Frank Moretti, John Frankfurt, Michael Preston, CCNMTL
Video in classroom should take advantage of teachable moment. The center used the expertise of Arnold Gesell to help improve teacher education through the use of video. See VITAL as an example. How do you capture details like observe, interpret, think, transfer, and revise? They built a web environment and shoot video, with help of a grant. It includes a video viewer with tools. It enables users to mark in and out points, make notes, and embed video in the essay (text box). Essays can be illustrated with clips, used like quotes, references or footnotes.

Dean Rehberger and Michael Fegan, Michigan State University, MATRIX, Rehberger is an Associate Director of MATRIX and also Associate Professor in the department of Writing, Rhetoric and American Cultures at Michigan State University. Michael Fegan is Chief Information Officer at MATRIX at Michigan State University.
The university had a digital library. Students were not using it much, which lead to the question: how can it be more effective? They wanted students to be able to access, use and reuse content. It acts as a secondary depository: students find digital objects and use digital objects. They can segment and annotate media; they can use with all types of media and combine into online presentations. It includes a layer to help undergraduates think about why and how using source materials, in a form that students fill out. The depository stores URLs, and includes a text database and access when users access. It does NOT store the media.

Judy Stern, University of California – Berkeley, User Interaction Designer at University of California – Berkeley's Educational Technology Center.
The system helps instructors use technology to engage in active learning. Some of the challenges include technology costs, service constraints, and lack of scalability. It allows students to review course materials, but on the human side, the challenges include instructor acceptance. The system involved two different threads: ETS – Educational Technology Services and the adoption of Sakai. The center employs a user-centered design. It focuses on users, attempting to fully understand users based on research and modeling.

Research and scholarly communication – best practices...The research agenda for the role of moving images in education
Richard Lucier, Scholarly Communications Institute, Director of the Scholarly Communications Institute.
The Institute is funded by Mellon Foundation and housed at the University of Virginia. Its purpose is to move scholarly communication to change. The library is at the heart of scholarship. Institute explores scholarly communications as a cyclical process. It begins with research, discovery, dissemination, etc., and eventually back to research and discovery. It deals primarily with humanities scholars. The overall goal is to create opportunities for scholars to understand and embrace digital scholarship. It is working to build cyberinfrastructure with the American Council of Learned Societies.

Patricia Renfro, Columbia University Libraries, Deputy University Librarian at Columbia University.
The libraries are building collections in different ways. Sino-Tibetan Oral History Project. Frontiers of Science. Videotaping professors and develop course materials around that video. Jazz Studies Online. They have acquired different legacy collections. Challenges to these collections include dissemination, storing/accessing/archiving, and preserving analog collections. There is a need for a proposed national agenda for video preservation, i.e., standards/practices, copyright IP, service bureaus, metadata standards.

Richard Kahlenberg, TVSmarts.com
Richard Kahlenberg is the founding archivist of the American Film Institute and Editor of TVSmarts.com.
The site generates a media menu based on the educational standards of various states. The site enables these menus to be imported into school sites. The menu can sort by age and will be based on standards. He says students score higher on tests and write more than if sent to library; however, he presented no data to back this up. It was clear this bothered people in the audience.

Finance – agendas and best practices...The economics of educational video production and distribution
David Weinstein, National Endowment for the Humanities, Senior Program Officer in the Division of Public Programs at the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Digital humanities Initiative deals with what's going on and where the money should go. It is concerned about how best use of technology to serve public. It provides start up grants for activities like podcasting, archives, gaming, or making objects open source. It has five new programs. He felt the walls between public programs and education are collapsing.

Dan Lukash, Institute of Museums and Library Services, Senior Program Officer at the Institute of Museums and Library Services.
The Institute connects people to information and ideas. Its primary institutions for grants are libraries, museums, and institutions of higher education.

Brian Newman, Renew Media, Executive Director of ReNew Media.
Newman talked about the economics of educational video production and distribution. The reality of content is that artists want to make money. Artists want freedom to create, make a profit, but most don't. A paid educational marketplace is important. Artists are not aware of alternative licensing. A disparity exists in what goes into production and what gets back to artists. He talked a little about the Reframe Project, which enables artists to digitize video for free and film at cost. New trends are emerging: DVD on demand, digital download to own or rent. The prices at set by rights holder. The trend is heading to ingest on demand, which might involve charging after a certain number of people watch. The system needs to be sustainable: open content with profit rather than nonprofit or for profit.

Next steps I - new structures and efficiencies...Exploring new potential collaborations in the field
Frank Moretti, CCNMTL
These changes involved redefining, recontextualizing, and restructuring. These points of departure exist in the institution. They must be done within the practice. He pointed to the The Triangle Initiative as an example. These changes need to occur in the classroom, in the community, and within the university.

Mara Hancock, University of California – Berkeley, Associate Director of Learning Systems at the University of California – Berkeley's Educational Technology Center.
The center has over 0,000 hours of media, and has seen 10.6 million downloads in 2006. Dynamic media challenges include making more media, podcasts and webcasts, available as well as easier to access. The barriers include technology, proprietary code, people and culture. The system needs to be: scalable, which means reproducible; sustainable, which involves maintaining, supporting, and funding; and growable, like an ecosystem. Open content should exist in open systems. Open systems and standards lead to the ecosystem. There should be alignment across institutions. We need to teardown boundaries and learn how to be in a networked environment.

Next steps II – opening code and content...Future directions for making educational video openly available
Rick Prelinger, Prelinger Archives

Dean Jansen, Participatory Culture Foundation
Dean Jansen is Special Projects Coordinator at the Participatory Culture Foundation.

Colin Rhinesmith, Berkman Center, Harvard Law School
Colin Rhinesmith is Digital Media Producer at Berkman Center for Internet & Society at the Harvard Law School

Chris Abani on Narratives and Africa

In perusing YouTube, I was pleased to see that TED has its own channel. And looking through the many wonderful videos, I clicked on this video of Chris Abani. He provides an excellent lecture, at least titled on YouTube, "Learning the Narratives of Africa." Take a look.

WMD? OMG! IDK! WTF?

In the fall, I'll be teaching my very first journalism class. In the past, I've helped teach reporting, and I've taught my own English Comp and Public Speaking courses. But I'm really excited at the opportunity to teach about something that I love.

As a part of that, current affairs, both foreign and domestic - now inextricably woven together, will be a large part. Below is an ongoing list that I'm compiling, and it is not close to complete. But it takes time to go from website to website, finding links and what not. I figured I would share because I know you need them to text your friends about current events on the global scale. Feel free to let me know I missed some, but please include a link to the website!

UN-United Nations
UNESCO-United Nations Education, Science, and Cultural Organization
OPEC-Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries
OECD -Organisation for Co-operation and Economic Development
WTO-World Trade Organization
DDA-Doha Development Agenda
GATT-General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
the Bank-World Bank
EU-European Union
NATO-North Atlantic Treaty Organisation
NAFTA-North American Free Trade Agreement
CAFTA-Central American Free Trade Agreement
IMF-International Monetary Fund
ASEAN-Association of Southeast Asian Nations
AUAfrican Union
AEC-African Economic Union
OAU-Organization of African Unity
SAARC-South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation
SAU-South Asian Union

Developing a mosaic

As I follow several developments in Iraq, Turkey, and many parts of Africa, as well as Iran, Venezuela, and the United States, I begin to see linearity as almost a slippery slope; each story provides a perspective, and almost like a chicken scratching for food, I follow the various strands flowing from each story. I've always gazed at the larger picture, sometimes completely overlooking the ridges and textures, components and landscapes that reside within the wider view. Often it is difficult not to pursue a more narrowly crafted perspective, but like a glutton for punishment I opt to understand all the forces at work in the human environment. I guess that's why globalization, an intellectual monolith, is so intriguing to me.

Cultural imperialism, globalization, and hybridity represent three theoretical frameworks to examine communications, overlapping but providing distinct tools for understanding communications within the condition of modernity and postmodernity. According to Giddens (1990), "(M)odernity refers to modes of social life and organisation which emerged in Europe from about the 17th Century onwards and which subsequently became more or less worldwide in their influence" (p. 3). The distinguishing mark of modernity is threefold: its pace of change, its scope of change, and its nature of modern institutions. According to Giddens, capitalism is the "emergent social order of modernity", and as such, many theorists have explored their concerns about the expansion of this social order, which, throughout it existence, has developed from the West to penetrate lesser developed areas or nation-states. I find the word 'penetration' is lacking in many cases, as the West has also tried to build nation-states, prop them up, or even raze them to the ground.

While some theorists have argued the cultural imperialist critique is fraught with problems (Tomlinson, 1991) or is essentially one-sided (Kellner, 2002), they do not completely dismiss the critique's usefulness. However, they realize these ideas of inequity fit inside a much broader perspective. Globalization is the body of knowledge that seeks to describe the condition of modernity and postmodernity, but vis-a-vis quickly evolving technological advancement, transportation, and an increasingly integrated economic system. Globalization theories are concerned with the increasingly interconnected world, especially where communications are concerned, and they move beyond cultural imperialism, to recognize the unfolding complexity of global reality, the recent developments in communications and technology, as well as their consequences.

This complexity, these developments, and the resultant human environment involve the overlapping categories of economics, politics, and culture. In trying to describe the most recent phase of globalization, many realize prior models and theories simply fail to account for current processes. In fact, Appadurai wrote in 1996 that these processes simply defied description at that time. These developments challenge older ideas of the relevancy of the nation-state and are changing fundamental social organizations, such as familial relationships and identity based on geographic location. Kellner argued in 2002 for a "critical theory of globalization that will will discuss the fundamental transformations of the world economy, politics, and culture in a dialectical framework that distinguishes between progressive and emancipatory features and oppressive and negative attributes" (p. 283). However, the intermingling of positive and negative characteristics is sometimes difficult to separate, and in many cases more difficult to find equilibrium.

Modern transportation allows for migration, and communications allow for constant contact and mediation among individuals at long distances (Appadurai, 1996). These changes lend themselves to the bending of traditional ideas of temporal, spatial, and geographic contexts that the human condition simply has not encountered before. Within this complexity, all levels of the human condition appear: from the individual, to groups, to nation-states, to international organizations, as globalization theorists attempt to map each strand in ever-growing multiplicities of humans existences.

We can view globalization as a multidimensional process, comprised of social, political, and economic interactive levels (Pieterse, 1995). Developments have given rise to new social formations and have challenged the dominant institutions, allowing us to transcend the geographic boundaries of the nation-state. As social formations and culture recede, so too does geographic importance (Waters, 1995). It is precisely this disjuncture that inflames national, religious and ethnic sentiments (Appadurai, 1996). Appadurai argues of a rupture in modernity theory, through which mass mediation and diaspora collude to create new public spheres in a world that he describes as postnational. These global flows of people, media, and finance cannot be easily reconciled; for example, the diaspora exasperates ethnic tensions but could be viewed positively by some with regard to cheap labor.

Moreover, international theories concerning political systems or political economy just simply fail to encompass the complexity of the human condition created by globalization. For example, Wallerstein had envisioned that a pair of mechanisms - the nation and the state - generally evolved to, among others, serve the bourgeois and its newly acquired power. These mechanisms operated in tandem but are now often truncated, depending on the nation-state's level of development, by other nation-states, international organizations, or in most cases corporations. Like other political theories, Wallerstein's world-system theory presupposes a certain arrangement for nation-states in the international system. In this system, it is clear the nation-state plays a role. But in the larger global system, some theorists, like Appadurai, have pondered the utility of the nation-state, arguing that its role might eventually become obsolete. However, he also adds that he is unsure what would take its place; I hope his book, Globalization will shed some light on this.

It's not difficult, then, if you view globalization as a multidimensional process, to see how the international system would come into play, especially with regard to information. Often many perspectives vie for attention, and in many cases, veracious information is obscured by political, social, or economic agendas. For example, while the Iraq War might have global implications and complications, it had inevitably unfolded primarily between two main players, Iraq and the United States. At the time, the dominant idea for the war was Iraq's defiance with its WMD. I ran home from the university because buzz about the war circulated around campus; I wanted to SEE the war for myself, from Stillwater, Oklahoma, USA. It would not be the first time that I watched war on television; clips from the first Gulf War were a mainstay on CNN. But more than a decade had passed, and communication technologies had improved. Below are clips obtained from YouTube, from various sources including Australian, American, and Asian news organizations; I believe the actual footage for all three might have derived from Al Jazeera.







At that moment, the Iraq War was disseminated, and globally the cultural, economic, and political processes changed; politically the Bush doctrine solidified and became a reality. If Afghanistan was a meek wake-up call, then Iraq was boiling pot of water saying, "Get your ass out of bed." The economic and cultural ramifications that followed seemed on par with the political discussions: Americans take and invade; we permeate other cultures to secure our own place in the world and to ensure our own cultural, economic, and political supremacy. Televising the Shock and Awe campaign simply gave these perceptions dimensions and validation. Of course, I'm sure a slew of perspectives exist, and many Americans sat glued to the television, subconsciously happy that we have the artillery.

But understanding the problems relies on information. In this case, many Americans justified the idea of obliterating another nation-state's sovereignty - a no-no in the international order for a while - with the idea of WMD. I think eventually other ideas, such as liberation as well as connections to 9/11, began to emerge, morphed from the original context, (or even pretext including securing access to petroleum and stabilizing the Middle East for our economic well-being), for even entering the country. Thus, the problem becomes apparent. The problem with the American news media resides in its flat portrayal and the consequent understanding of the situations that require much deeper comprehension. Many Americans slide back and forth on a continuum, from the acutely informed to the absolutely ignorant. And this flat coverage has wings, misunderstanding and scant comprehension spreads and morphs as it does, like some crazy virus.

Can Americans withdraw from our inextricable position within a hegemony to understand the actualities occurring in these other countries? Or is the postmodern condition too much with us? If we believe we act righteously, how righteous are the outcomes when the reason for acting is found unjust?

It seems strange that while we open our newspapers or turn on the daily news, absorbing information from official sources, people criss-crossing the globe are communicating information that gatekeepers withhold or discard. If Appadurai is correct, many exchange information that might be vital to our understanding, but these walls of identity, a citadel at which sentries stand in wait to turn away information that doesn't quite mesh with our reality, keep us from sharing or even knowing. And as I travel from website to website trying to get a handle on Kurdistan, or Iraq, or Swaziland, or Venezuela, the problem is not the lack of information, but rather the veracity of the information. Do we believe Iran needs to develop an alternative form of energy, such as the energy provided by nuclear power, or do we believe the Bush administration that Iran intends to produce weapons of mass destruction? That term, weapons of mass destruction, has a familiar feel to it. But it seems this time around the idea of weapons is already colluding with other ideas - Iranians want liberation; Iran poses a threat to its neighbors; Iran aids terrorists.

When you look back at the mosaic of news stories, one must dig deeper to gather the multiplicity of perspectives and work hard to piece them together. And as you add the layers of complexity and human interaction - news organizations, reporters, editors, audiences, reedits, reposts, word of mouth all multiplying meaning - the meaning morphs and changes, like the telephone game gone awry. Some are content with the evening news or reading the local newspaper.

But those who search throughout the net, what is the news standard by which the quality of that work or information is judged? Do we judge the international news product by the same gauge that we judge the American news product? There is no universal standard, and to claim there is - or to lay claim to it - just simply smacks of outlandish ego. But we forget, don't we? We forget that information coming from other places was gathered by those with different cultural norms. How do we, then, begin to come outside ourselves, to realize this mosaic to form a more aligned understanding of the human condition?


References
Appadurai, A. (1996). Modernity at Large: Cultural dimensions of globalization. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.

Giddens, A. (1990). The Consequences of Modernity. Stanford University Press.

Kellner, D. (2002). Theorizing Globalization. Sociological Theory. (20)3.

Pieterse, J.N. (1995). Globalization as Hybridization in Global Modernities. In M. Featherstone, S. Lash, & R. Robertson (Eds)., pp. 45-68, Global Modernities. London: Sage.

Tomlinson, J. (1991). Cultural Imperialism. Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press.

Wallerstein, I. (1974). The Modern World-System I. San Diego: Academic Press.

Waters, M. (1995). Globalization. London: Routledge.

Interactive foreign policy

Because of the media hype surrounding the YouTube presidential debates, I have not paid close attention. I figured eventually I would get to YouTube to check out the Q and A. My decision on the quality of the questions and answers, as well as the utility of the entire event, are still pending. But I was curious to see what questions were posed and answers given concerning foreign policy. Below are are two questions that were not used and two questions that were answered during the Democrats' debate. Take a look:

Questions answered during the debate:

Going beyond empty promises in Darfur


How do we pull out now?


Questions posed but not addressed during the debate:

America’s policy on preventing al-Qa’eda from using Africa as safe haven


Restoring America’s reputation overseas


Click here to view more video clips from the televised debate.

Betting on Stability

“Returning then to the ethnoscapes with which I began, the central paradox of ethnic politics in today’s world is that primordia (whether langage or skin color or neighborhood or kinship) have become globalized. That is, sentiments, whose greatest force is in their ability to ignite intimacy into a political state and turn locality into a staging ground for identity, have become spread over vast and irregular spaces as groups move yet stay linked to one another through sophisticated media capabilities” (p. 41).
Arjun Appadurai, Modernity at Large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalization

As I prepare for next semester, I find myself clicking through websites to understand more about the world. I recently switched my class schedule around, dropping a political psychology class to take an international topics class in political science; I made the change partially because I think the class will be more beneficial. I also decided to accept an offer to teach a class about understanding the American news media.

I would like to enter my classes this fall with some basic grasp of international relations, so I have sought out information about which I always felt unsure. I think one of the most difficult differences for me to understand is the difference between Sunni Muslims and Shi’ite Muslims; understanding these differences forms a basic comprehension of both the history and current political environment in the Persian Gulf region. Cursory looks so far indicate that scholars disagree about the origins; some say the differences derive from Muhammad's death and his chosen successor. Throughout the years, though, these differences have manifested deeply into the culture leading to fundamental differences, such as how both the Quran and Hadith are written and interpreted.

As I work through these differences, I also find myself drawn to stories about the problems in Iraq, caused by sectarian violence and militias. In addition to pulling apart concepts like “Sunni” and “Shi’ite”, I also find myself picking through articles to understand the term, “militia.” Often, many of these articles fail to explain the differences between the two groups; in fact, a consistent theme of the Mehdi Army is anti-American. While I do not dispute this perspective, for lack of information, I wonder how I would react if others invaded my country. Given that I am originally from Oklahoma, I know how I would feel if Texas decided to annex the state.

As I stated in my post on Kurdistan, many believe that the U.S. government is aiding PJAK, which is aligned with the PKK and is causing problems in Iran. Both Iran and Turkey have shelled and amassed troops along the Iraqi border, as part of a solution to root out what both countries believe are “insurgent” groups. But as the American news media cover the meeting among officials from Iraq, Iran, and the United States in Baghdad, the focus – at least publicly – has been on the Shi’ite militia in Iraq. The Shi’ite militia baffled me because Iraq’s current government is predominantly Shi’ite and apparently many Sunnis are not participating.

In addition to the Shi’ite militia, Iraq also has an al Qaeda problem . I have no doubt that al Qaeda found its way to Iraq; the group seems to like a good fight with Americans. The L.A. Times article quoted in my Kurdistan post indicated that many insurgents held U.S. military custody are Saudi nationals, presumably Sunni Muslims who fight for al Qaeda. Al Qaeda, however, is not considered a militia, but rather a terrorist organization. The difference between viewing the Shi’ite group as a militia and Al Qaeda is still unclear to me; I would like to investigate that further.

It was a big week for the Persian Gulf region. While the U.S. Ambassador met with Iraqi and the Iranian ambassador for a second round of talks, the U.S. government has entertained the idea of selling arms to many countries in the area, and the U.S. military has sought out local Sunni tribesmen to work in the security forces. Bush also tied Al Qaeda in Iraq to al Qaeda responsible for the September 11 attacks: “Al Qaeda in Iraq is a group funded by foreign terrorists, led largely by foreign terrorists, and loyal to a foreign leader: Osama bin Laden.” Of course, those fighting for al Qaeda in Iraq are thought to be Iraqi, though the leadership is foreign and is centered around the Pakistan-Afghanistan border region.

I have to say, though, I am not sure how al Qaeda is still funded, as I thought their sources of funding had been frozen by the U.S. government. I understand the argument that Iran is giving guns to the Shi'ite militia, but I'm still not clear on how or why the Sunnis are armed. If you put all of the information below together in an expose in an everyday weekly American newspaper, I wonder what the reaction would be.

Playing with fire
Before the meeting with Iran and the United States, Al-Maliki called on the countries to help support stability and security in Iraq. Tensions between Iran and the United States aside, the meeting’s aim was meant to seek ways to bring security and stability to Iraq, including containing Sunni militants, or al Qaeda, in the country. As I mentioned in my previous post, some believe the U.S. government is supporting PJAK, and both Turkey and Iran have had troops positioned along the Iraqi border. Following the meeting U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker said Iran has not dealt with Iraq in an effective, efficient way, though I am not too sure what this means. The U.S. contends that Iran is supporting the Shi’ite militias; the U.S. military also has two suspected Iranian terrorists in custody. The two were caught during a raid, bringing EFPs into Iraq. However, Iran denies this charge, and the Khamenei in Iran still views the United States and Israel as enemies. The meeting did yield a trilateral committee that will seek ways of bring the violence in Iraq to an end. While this meeting took place, at least three stories emerged about the U.S. military’s idea for using armed local Sunni tribesmen for security.

The idea has its roots in the experiences of the U.S. military personnel in Iraq; many of the Sunni tribesmen have expressed frustration with militias and have aided the U.S. military in several cases. While it enables Iraqis to participate in the protection of their country, the Iraqi government is cautious and concerned about the program. In fact, one major difficulty with training the security forces resides in ridding trainees of their sectarian loyalties. While the Shi’ite dominated government has felt pressure to do away with the militias, a concern arises over the focus. If the government focuses on Shi’ite militias, does it legitimize the problems caused by militant Sunni groups? The government also wants the ability to screen volunteers before they are armed, in addition to bringing these groups under government control. One Iraqi official has called it the "seed for civil war." The military emphasized it is not arming the groups, but it is authorized to give them money and ink contracts with these groups to perform certain tasks, especially the protection of “critical infrastructure.” It is a way to then pull these residents into security forces to eventually train them to use weapons and understand the “American rules of engagement.” (Oddly enough, the deck on that story was: "Irregulars to patrol own neighborhoods").

Clashes with militia are common, like the U.S. military recent run-in with the Shi’ite militia, the Medhi army, while looking for one of its commanders in Kerbala. Although the news media consistently says Kerbala is one of the most protected areas in Iraq – because it is a holy Shi’ite city – 17 militiamen were killed in the city during the clash. The Medhi army is led by Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, whom U.S. officials believe is fueling sectarian violence.

But it takes two to tango. Saudi Arabia is consistently frustrating the Bush administration; during a meeting in January in Riyadh, the Saudi government produced documents meant to debunk the legitimacy of al-Maliki in Iraq, illustrating that he has had contact with al-Sadr and that he is an Iranian agent. While U.S. officials reportedly believe the documents to be forgeries, tension between Saudi Arabia and Iraq have increased. And some believe it is NOT Iran or Syria contributing to the instability of Iraq but Saudi Arabia:

“Of course, the Saudi government has hardly masked its intention to prop up Sunni groups in Iraq and has for the past two years...the need to counterbalance the influence Iran has there.”

Despite these frustrations, the Bush administration is preparing a proposal to take to Congress; it is seeking approval of an arms package for Saudi Arabia and surrounding countries. The arms package is partially a response to Iran but to secure American influence in the area as well. In addition to selling the arms to Saudi Arabia, the United States also seeks to bolster its deal with Israel, a “significant increase over what Israel has received in the past 10 years.” Egypt would also receive a similar deal. Other countries in the area that will likely receive weaponry include: Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, and United Arab Emirates. Despite the U.S. government's concerns about Saudi Arabia and unlike its pressure on Iran, it has sought no public support from Saudi Arabia for the war in Iraq.

“In talks about the package, the administration has not sought specific assurances from Saudi Arabia that it would be more supportive of the American effort in Iraq as a condition of receiving the arms package, the officials said.”

Although I have not heard a great deal about increasing U.S. troops in Iraq lately, I did notice the British are talking about withdrawing their troops from Basra. Iraqis fear the lack of a major military presence in Southern Iraq, as they believe the security force is infiltrated by those competing for control of Basra's oil. One British military official described the difference between Northern Iraq and Southern Iraq as "a problem of gangsterism not sectarian violence." Eventually the Iraqis will need to stabilize their own country, as not only the British mentioned but the Iranians have argued, as well.

As American officials search for solutions, the Iraq war has created a diaspora of refugees, fleeing to neighboring countries, which is rarely mentioned in the American news media. It seems a gamble to pump guns into the region, especially since it remains unclear who bats for which team. While I have no doubt that a link between the Al Qaeda in Iraq and the Al Qaeda responsible for September 11, I also know a link exists between the Al Qaeda responsible for the September 11 attacks and the nationalities of the terrorists involved. If gambling is indeed an art based on probable outcomes, it would seem the Bush administration would place far less faith in Saudi Arabia. And even if Iran's influence had grown in the region and its support for the Shi'ite militia was painfully obvious, to provide more weaponry to a country that has illustrated a propensity for creating terrorists seems reckless, if not hypocritical. In fact, I would say about Saudi Arabia what Sean McCormack, Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs, said about Iran:

"They say they want strategic stability in Iraq. Well, they should start acting like it."

Reshaping our view of the world

The gatekeeping theory has interested me for a while. I’m curious about where information comes from, where it’s going, who passes it along, and how it changes along the way. Originally the theory applied to food; Kurt Lewin examined how goods and services flowed through certain channels to eventually arrive in the home. But he drew a comparison between what he examined and news items. A short time later, David White applied the theory to a copy editor, and eventually Gaye Tuchman concluded that journalists have their own routines.

And perhaps that was the hook. As a journalist, I had my own routine; occasionally I would switch things up when I was short on time due to deadlines. What they say about lightening striking in the same place rarely applies to crime, and there was a high probability that I would cover two or more stories at once. I created a routine based on how long it took me to go from place to place, thumb through arrest reports and chew the fat (the best stories sometimes appear THAT way), and get back to the newsroom. My routine fit within the larger operation of the newspaper; my behavior usually worked within what the organization demanded of me.

There’s a logic that operates in the news media, and that logic varies from medium to medium. It is this logic that plays into the gatekeeping role, helping journalists determine the appropriate sources, types of information needed, and what is included or excluded. In this way journalists act as gatekeepers, but there are layers of gatekeeping. Think about the structure of a newsroom. Reporters go out and make contact with people, gathering news. The sources with whom journalists speak are gatekeepers; the editors are gatekeepers; even the readers are gatekeepers, choosing what they decide to read or skip over.

Additionally, the logic becomes apparent in how the information is included, how it is organized, and where the story is placed. While placement and organization are important, understanding which information is used as well as its source are at the top of my list. We often do not know the milieu in which the information was gathered. Is the reporter quoting a press release? Other news sources? Press conferences? Interviews? Archival material? All indicate how the information was gathered and packaged – and by whom. Recycled news scares me; if the information is inaccurate or incomplete, it becomes difficult to rectify that inaccuracy. And then how do we track the mistake back to its root?

Reused information renders news less poignant, less useful. It is the interaction with people (and sometimes documents and other artifacts) that creates the news; without them, you have robbed the news of its humanity. Journalists interact with a number of different people, and in doing this, help create an understanding (or misunderstanding) of people, places, and events. Each of us brings meaning to our interaction with one another and actively engages in consensus or disagreement about the world. Journalists use organizational values to shape their news product, and then send it down the editorial chain, where other people interact with the copy. Realizing this, it becomes important to understand the nature of information that we receive and the nature in which we receive it.

I wondered about this as I perused Google news Monday night. Look at the Kosovo stories that initially appeared in the Google search, knowing full well there are algorithms and other “techie” complexities that decide which stories come up. Typically the major parts of a story include the headline, a deck if present, the byline, the dateline, the lead, the nutgraph, the sources, the style, and ultimately the information that makes its way into the story. The order of information is also important, as often it indicates level of importance. Determining that all of the stories derived from news agencies, I sought to know if these stories changed from their original form and how.

Gatekeeping and Symbolic Interaction
Lewin (1947) said in order to change people’s food habits, it is necessary to find the “key positions” along the channel that carries the food, as items travel through these channels, proceeding through “definitive steps” (144). Often, this key position would include a person in a household who determines the necessary items needed and then sends them along the channel to the table. In my house, I would ultimately be the key position at the end of the chain, a definitive step for goods and services. But Lewin contended this concept also applies to other goods and services, especially the diffusion of news. David Manning White took Lewin’s concept and applied it to a wire copy editor, affectionately known at Mr. Gates. He found Gates used the type of news, or category, as a factor in his decision to include wire copy; Gates also made decisions based on how well written the story was and how well the story matched his readership. Finally Tuchman (1973) studied the routinization in lieu of unexpected events. Because variability poses problems for journalists in processing raw material, they ultimately devise methods for efficiently sorting through and labeling types of stories and bits of information. Many researchers have examined gatekeeping throughout the years, and use of the word "gatekeeper" has become as ubiquitous as the use of the word "framing"; many people use the words but rarely understand their theoretical underpinnings.

I imagine these channels to be more of a matrix, with several different possible sources of information and several different gatekeepers. As the information flows through these channels, they flow from and through different gates. For example, news is ultimately guided by an organization’s “common understanding of news values and imperatives” (Meyers, 1997, p. 21). But here’s the question: what happens to the information when it flows through each gate? While we might not be in a position to know pre-press, we can figure it out post-press. The question of gatekeeping becomes clearer when you begin to realize the journalist and each source are interacting with one another, and in turn the reporter’s product and the audience are interacting. They are creating meaning by exchanging symbols, through which a view of the world emerges.

Conceptualizing communication as symbolic interaction has a history. Blumer (1972) and Schutz (1967) both talked about how human beings exchange meaning. Goffman (1974) also talks about this interaction, and how it plays into human understanding and the organization of human experience. Both framing and media formats grew out of Goffman’s theory. But no matter which way you head – framing or formats – what emerges is the idea that the media help shape our view of the world. Ultimately, if you hold a gatekeeping position, you are charged with a responsibility that involves shaping how people see the world, not only the arena in which action occurs but their place within that arena.

In building a research project to study crime coverage in Philadelphia – affectionately called Killadelphia – I came across interesting tidbits about crime coverage. For example, Doris Graber (1980) concluded that many crime stories would include stock information; they tend to be cookie cutter stories, consistently employing specific pieces of information. Name and age of the suspect, address, and type of crime committed are typical in crime stories. Erickson, Baranek, and Chan (1991) contended that these stories would use the same sources; more often than not, many of the sources are official sources. Journalists and these sources engage in a symbiotic relationship. The sources provide information, which is needed by the journalists, and the journalists assure the sources have a place in the media food chain, which is often needed by those who want to disseminate important information. I have wanted to examine how this would play out in stories that didn’t deal with crime; thus, the Kosovo situation and the precipitating online news stories granted me an opportunity.

Kosovo
Late Monday evening and early Tuesday morning, news of the meeting between Kosovar leaders and U.S. officials went out over the wire. Kosovo is a province in Serbia that has long sought independence, and Serbia is attached to Kosovo; it does not want to let go. A majority of those living in Kosovo are Albanian, with a minority of Serbs. Both the United Nations and NATO have controlled and protected the province since 1999, when NATO led an air war against the Serbian military that sought to control Albanian separatists. This area has been a hotbed of contention; you might remember that an assassination in Serbia helped precipitate the war to end all wars in 1914. Of the four stories that appeared in Google news search, three originated from Reuters. When I say originated, I mean that Reuters put the copy over the wire, and other news agencies picked it up. The final story was an Associated Press article that Fox chose to pick up.

Reuters and AP both disseminate news; Reuters is a British news agency, and Associated Press is an not-for-profit cooperative owned by its 1,500 American daily members. This means if a news organization doesn’t have the resources to send its own reporter but has a newshole and thinks the content fits its readership, it can use the story. I wanted to see how news agencies portrayed the situation and how that story changed from news organization to news organization. I looked at five things: headline, lead, the nutgraph, the sources, and the context. I realize there are many ways to write a news story, but I’m from the Missouri school of journalism, so I reverted back to my education. Placed at the top of the story, the headline gives you the whole story in one sentence or less; absent of visuals, the headline grabs the readers’ attention. The lead tells you the news. The nutgraph, or as George Kennedy affectionately called the “rat’s ass” graph, tells you why you should care. “Why should I give a rat’s ass?” The sources tell you where the information came from, and the context gives you an idea of why the news is occurring and what is expected in the future.

The story that ran on Stuff.co.nz was nearly identical to the original Reuters’s story, so I will skip it. Fox ran an Associated Press story, rather than a story from Reuters, so I went to find the original AP story. I was unsuccessful on the Internet; I turned to LexisNexis, a database for news/legal nerds. There were a number of other news agencies that filed stories on the same subject, but since I’m not conducting a full-fledged research project, I decided to take a much easier route. Below is what I found when I looked at four stories. The links are included for all but the original AP story, as I only offer a summation of the articles. I encourage you to examine the stories.

Original Reuters Story
Written by Sue Pleming, this story describes the meeting between Kosovar leaders and U.S. officials.

The Headline: “Kosovo tells U.S. it will not declare independence”

The lead: “Kosovo told Washington on Monday that it did not plan to unilaterally declare independence from Serbia in November, senior officials from the United States and Kosovo said.”

The nutgraph: A paraphrase of a spokesman from the Kosovo delegation Skender Hyseni explaining that Kosovo's leaders assured U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice no unilateral action would be taken, and U.S. officials confirmed cooperation, not unilateral action.

The story provides context throughout, explaining Serbia’s opposition to independence, U.S. officials’ fear that unilateral claim to independence could lead to violence, and discussions within the UN Contact Group. Also, it provides the reason for the meeting: the U.N. resolution for independence was pushed aside by Russia. The story also provides an explanation for the fear of unilateral action: “Kosovo’s Prime Minister Agim Ceku, who met with Rice along with other senior Kosovo officials, had suggested on Friday he could ask the province’s parliament to declare independence from Serbia on November 28.” One additional tidbit to mention is the use of the word guerillas in the explanation of the war with Serbians.

The sources include Hyseni as well as two unnamed U.S. officials.

ABC’s version
Again, Sue Pleming’s name appears in the byline.

The headline: “U.S. urges Kosovo leaders to be patient”

The lead: “Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged Kosovo’s leaders on Monday to be patient in their push for independence after the United Nations put aside a resolution that Russia had threatened to veto.”

Nutgraph: The nutgraph in this story is the reason some fear unilateral action: “Kosovo’s Prime Minister Agim Ceku, who met Rice...urged the parliament last week to declare independence from Russian ally Serbia on November 28.”

While some of the context is the same material, it appears differently. In addition, some new information is also provided about the U.N. Security Council as well as the draft resolution that was removed after Russia opposed. Another sentence, which is without attribution, appears as well. “Last week Rice said Kosovo would get its independence 'one way or another,' but the Kosovo delegation was expected to make clear to her that patience was running out over the pace of international diplomacy that will decide their future.”

The sources include State Department spokesman Sean McCormack, an unnamed official traveling with the Kosovo delegation, and Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin. The official traveling with the Kosovo delegation had no comment, but the non-statement included a tidbit about talks including National Security adviser Stephen Hadley. It is unclear in what context Churkin made his statements - are they archival? From an interview?

After seeing the differences in the two stories, it becomes apparent that if you read one and not the other, your view of the situation might be different. It should be noted that I recognize a need to know about the editorial processes of both these organizations; information that appears in one story and not the other comes from somewhere. I think it is common practice of many journalists to take information from archive stories to add context, but sometimes the readers might not realize this unless they have followed the story. So what about the Associated Press stories?

Original AP story (Retrieved from LexisNexis, July 25, 2007)
Desmond Butler wrote this story, and like Sue Pleming’s story, it describes the Washington meeting.

The headline: “Kosovo officials assure US they will consult allies before declaring independence”

The lead: “U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice reassured officials from Kosovo that the United States would push for recognition of the breakaway province’s independence from Serbia within months.”

Nutgraph: Both the Kosovar prime minister and president told Rice they would not declare negotiations unilaterally; any action would be coordinated with the United States.

The context of the story includes the same information as the Reuters story, with additional information. The story cites U.S. President Bush "hinting" that the United States “could recognize Kosovo without Security Council consent” during his trip to Albania in June. It also adds Martti Ahtisaari, the U.N.’s special envoy to Kosovo, recommended the province gain supervised independence in April. The story also includes that Kosovo’s population is majority ethnic Albanian, while the Fox story does not.

The sources include Kosovo’s president Fatmir Sejdiu from an interview with AP on Monday. The story also includes information from senior U.S. officials “speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak for attribution.”

Fox’s version
Again, Desmond Butler has the byline.

The headline: “Kosovo head assures Rice on independence”

The lead: “Kosovo’s leaders told Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice Monday that the breakaway province would not declare independence from Serbia without coordinating the move with the United States.”

Nutgraph: Rice gave Kosovo’s officials assurance of the U.S.’s commitment to recognition of Kosovo’s independence within months, “even without a United Nations Security Council resolution.”

The information provided for context is the same as the previous story, though the order of information is different. Some of the information has also been reworked: “The meetings in Washington come days after the Security Council set aside a resolution that Russia called a hidden route to independence.”

The sources include Kosovo’s president, Fatmir Sejdiu, as well as State Department spokesman Sean McCormack.

What did I learn from this?
The point here is not to criticize these news organizations but explore how these stories might morph as they travel through different gates, and as they change, to understand the meaning presented to readers about these events. Of course news organizations will organize stories in a manner that fits their styles, their readers, and their organizational missions. But the perspective of the stories from organization to organization seems dramatically different, which warrants a closer look.

Obviously ABC completely revamped the Reuters story, changing the perspective from the Kosovar leaders to the perspective of U.S. officials. The change in perspective is evident in the headline and the lead. The ABC story also includes information that was not included in the original story; where did it come from? Fox, on the other hand, stayed more true to the original AP story, rearranging some of the information. Both its lead and nutgraph are different, but not quite as much as th ABC story. The sources also varied, but this seems indicative of news organizations making the content their own. To me, as long as I understand the context in which the interview took place or the information was gathered, I'm happy.

What is not mentioned in these stories? The Serbian reaction. The Serbian parliament passed a resolution, stating the government would act if Kosovo declared its independence; it also warned those who aided Kosovo. What is worrisome is that each of these stories provide only a two-dimensional view of this situation, where there seems to be many dimensions. While this does not surprise me, splitting the larger picture into separate stories skews the brevity of the situation and provides reality piecemeal. I also noticed none of these online stories provides a link to stories about the Serbian reaction, though a couple of them provide online forums for readers.

While it might not be possible to read every story, it is possible to be more mindful of where information comes from, keeping tabs not only on news organizations but on sources, as well. Technology has helped create a more open society, but it has also galvanized competition within the news media. One evil produced by the current media environment is news recycling; it is difficult to tell the difference between fresh information and recycled information used for context. It is also increasingly difficult to understand the context in which information is gathered. Given these reasons, examining the news media is more important than ever, especially when the world presented might fit into the narrow perspective of one news organization or another. Even from within this narrow perspective, we as active participants have the ability to break free and search for a more complete picture, understanding that while the news media might shape our initial comprehension, we have the ability to reshape our view of the world.

References
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