Collected Comments from the Athens Meeting Discussion on the Trends suggested above.

• Flexibility - in southern African countries.
• Requires spit media strategies - elites and population - so 2 policies required depending on access levels.
• Some places not wired but everyone has mobile phones - so need to keep that in mind.
• Bangladesh - true re the technology - is part of the media industry - and is used, but technology is ruling - issue is that serious content is losing out - losing its seriousness.
• Not impressed by citizen journalism as not impressed by citizens who want to be doctors - question is how the media are trying to use these new technologies.
• With mobile phones you can not tell a story - mobile phones do not do that - issue is the standards of media - need to work to distinguish from a quality perspective - too much info - bring readers back to well-edited, well-vetted, etc.
• Issue of credibility - before citizens had limited choices - now there are many sources - so issue becomes one of credibility - but what do we do - what strategy? e.g., more blogging? more of what?
• TREND 2 - but what about the state of democracy in country?
• Contest that there is a move away from the local - rather the trend is back to local.
• Also - for the new skills are not in the classroom - e.g., media literacy for young people and families.
• Some of the skills related to and processes of traditonal media can be translated to the new media - e.g., transparency, fact checking, editorial review, etc. - consumer becomes the editor.
• If talking about trends - and trad. media is falling by the wayside - what about all of the bottom billion? E.g., Sudan - radio PSAs - in cartoon form - but local population did not understand so redid in a localised Arabic - a big gap between the different population levels.
• New technology is a revolution - need quality - so issue is how to use journalistic principles for high quality information - not just new information - how to help develop our societies' development?
• Citizen journalism - airplane crash - need to administer first aid - same thing with media - esp. where people are in less than free-media countries - rely on ordinary people reporting.
• Bunch of different debates going on:

  - different contexts - e.g., between Greece and DRC - so country-specific.
  - hate on for citizen journalists - but it is a fait accompli - and they are their own editors.

• Big difference between freedom of expression and freedom of media - media is still very important.
• Trying to order something that is in chaos - trying to put old order on new things - old values on new processes.
• In certain countries it is essential - but in a very developed media market place it is less vital, important, or relevant - require the established and proven media processes - e.g., vetting.
• Best response is return to proven media values.
• Not a choice between professional media and citizens media - a place for both - e.g., open up training for non-journalists - e.g., local citizens join the training.
• Public system media - commitment to the public sphere - TV Cultura - a citizens journalism unit - TV Medellin - news from people's houses.
• How do you dialogue and how your professional skills serve the public sphere? - combination of empowering and serving.
• Namibia - 85 to 90 per cent "captured" - but media fossilised - so either how do you reform and renergise but public media may get overwhelmed - so what to do? Switch from institutions to specific programmes?
• Pacific - trying to get people as citizens journalism to work with mainstream media - that is the strategy.
• Citizen Journalism - a good thing in general, but question is whether it can be a substitute for mainstream journalism? - issue is funding for professional journalists - issue is advertising.
• Some citizen journalists are misused by media organisations.
• The centralising of the decentralsing process - e.g., bloggers congregating around the Huffington Post.
• Poss. Item 6? - Huff Post - now top 10 news site and still not profitable.
• IN USA 50% OF READERSHIP IS ONLINE AND 11% HAS FOLLOWED THE AUDIENCE.
• Poss. Item 6? - as online media becomes more developed what will be the business model? Can an advertising business be developed?
• Non profit journalsim - different model.
• Media development should be local - and will be - so different strategies in different contexts.