T.R. Reid, Senate Finance, 'Universal' Healthcare, Media Cover

Posted Mon, 06/16/2008 - 08:51 by rba
If you have time I'd highly recommend watching/listening to T.R. Reid on International Health systems today, which is part of the Health Reform Summit 2008 (Sens. Baucus + Grassley) running on C-SPAN. Notable for showing Reid's documentary (Frontline: Sick Around the World), and the discussion and reaction of the audience - Senators and staffers from the Senate Finance Committee. One question by Sherrod Brown stuck: how to get the information to the public - get the media engaged? Reid's answer: he didn't know if any media outlets were capable of doing the same kind of work - traveling the world - due to cutbacks in newsrooms. I think that answer is only partially correct, and begs another question: what prevents news organizations from covering an extremely complex story as a joint project? Actually, nothing.

Comments

Hmmm...

by susie dow - 06/16/2008 - 13:44
Maybe because the Associated Press is on my mind today... There's really nothing to stop independent news outlets and bloggers from around the world from creating their own version of the Associated Press. From the Associated Press - About Us page:
AP operates as a not-for-profit cooperative with more than 4,000 employees working in more than 240 worldwide bureaus. AP is owned by its 1,500 U.S. daily newspaper members. They elect a board of directors that directs the cooperative. AP supplies a steady stream of news around the clock to its domestic members, international subscribers and commercial customers.
I could easily see the advent of a lower end version of the AP. In a way, isn't that what Indymedia first started out to be? By the way. On a quasi-related note. The USC Annenberg Online Journalism Review (OJR) issued its last post today. I was kinda wondering why they didn't hold their annual journalism conference this year. Goodbye from Robert Niles.

I also heard that McClatchy is also laying people off big time.

by carol white - 06/17/2008 - 05:56
I agree that we should figure out how to have establish international networks that will function for us as our own international press service. A first step might be to recruit folks to systematically read foreign press and follow designated web sites. Knowledge of other languages is a help English has become something of an international language these days.
carol

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