Hanson Hosein was a successful television news producer who traveled the world and won an Emmy award working for NBC News before realizing a decade ago that the media world was about to change dramatically. He ditched the world of “big-box” media and set out with a handheld video camera to learn about the emerging world of citizen journalism. His travels resulted in, among other things, Independent America, a video documentary of a trip through America’s back roads and mom-and-pop businesses. Today he heads the masters of communication program at the University of Washington, where his innovative curriculum has created conversation and controversy for its rejection of traditional media models.
Hosein believes that in the future media will be atomized and spread among millions of special interest “reporters,” few of whom will call themselves journalists. This will ultimately be a superior model, but the process of breaking down old institutions and constructing new ones won’t be pretty. In this interview, he addresses the question of whether journalism is dying and how aggregation may become the journalist’s most important role in the new democratized media.
Listen to the podcast (21:00) (right click and save to download)
93: The Travelin’ Mama
The Traveling Mamas site features a wonderfully homespun and playful voice layered onto the sage experience of people who know how to travel. Fifteen months after launch, it’s getting 50,000 visitors a month and a bouquet of awards, citations and recommendations from media outlets and other bloggers. The four mamas post prodigiously and their audience is coveted by destination marketers, who compete to get their attention. It’s all rather overwhelming and unexpected.
Shannon is Cajun Mama. She joins us midway through a trip in the Georgia wilderness. In 93 programs, this is the first time David and Paul have ever interviewed someone under these circumstances. Listen to find out more.
Also listen to find out about the nearly disastrous bicycling accident David suffered last week. He’s okay, but instead of sending flowers, he’d like listeners to support his ride for the National MS Society.
Listen to the podcast (17:01) (right click and choose “Save As…” to download)
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