This has been an excellent exchange. There is little in either position that I disagree with. But I think that we should not see this as 'either' mainstream media 'or' civil society. I outline in my book SuperMedia how journalism is - and must - become more participatory. Part of that is the production of journalism but it is also about institutions in the media and society opening themselves up to the citizen but also to greater institutional partnership.


This is a theme I have taken up recently in papers published on my blog (www.charliebeckett.org) and through research we have done recently on NGOs and the media in developing countries. (www.polismedia.org)

I don't think philanthropy is the answer. Nor is a tax on Google. Those are models that restricted the potential of both civil society organisations and mainstream media in the past to do its job of fostering transparency and accountability. Partly because both media and civil society organisations were resistant themselves to openess.


This is a theme that we must explore more rigorously as we work out how the news media will evolve, but I believe it is a particularly critical (and unrecognised) factor in the politics of Development.


Keep the debate going!

regards

Charlie Beckett
DIrector, Polis at LSE