Notes from Transition Towns Media Skype Conference 29/08/2008 with Andy Kenworthy

Notes from Transition Towns Media Skype Conference 29/08/2008
Andy Kenworthy | Version 1 | 29/08/2008

Radio Interviews
• Radio reports can be very short (e.g., 5 minutes) these days.
• Keep comments very short into soundbytes
• Radio interviews are short. Keep it in crisp sound bites so if they do cut it up it still makes sense
• Contexts can be moved -- try not to respond to things others have said just before you

Being misreported
• Deirdre remembers being misreported -- take it on the chin at times when it's not important -- cannot be too upset about it.
• Focus on little sound bytes
• Build long-term relationships with journalists -- encourage them to get back to you about what they are going to broadcast.
• Journalists will pay attention to you if they consider you important to the whole organization you are representing.
• Talk slowly when you get a bad reporter -- wise reporters can be stunning
• Deirdre interviewed by a journalist -- young journalist who totally left out the peak oil message -- messed up report -- went to the editor of the newspaper --
• "You got this wrong... can I give you some more information"

New Online Media
• This is part of the new media. Media is changing. Online chat two continents.
• How much news is obtained online?
• what we are doing here is "new media" -- we are "getting" news, but we are also "producing" news.
• Environmentalism journalism is massively on the rise.
• TV still overwhelming for masses. Internet not dominant yet
• Paul -- relative to U.S. election -- large # of groups online -- TV is still most important for general population

Choosing the media to use
• how do we choose the media we want to use?
• Need to think about who is reading these things.
• Specialist magazines may be the audience we need sometimes
• Internet is great for contacting niche markets -- target the right groups.
• A billion are online.
• Andy: concern with the internet -- throwing my material onto this enormous pile of stuff -- not necessarily picked up by the right people.
• We are awash with information
• Dubious about writing without knowing that somebody is reading it.
• Those who search your content are those who already agree with each other.
• You can get an echo chamber where everyone agrees with eash other.
• Weekly newsletter is still effective. Clean up chats. We find gigantic jumps when we put out a newsletter.
• Google anaylitics helps with monitoring

What media resources does Transition Towns need?
• stories about a guy in his garden -- personal stories about how their lives have been changed.
• need a "Getting started with press releases" guide
• http://www.transitiontowns.org.nz/node/180
• This is a place to record the date and media name whenever NZ Transition Towns receives public attention. The majority of content here will reference New Zealand media events, but at the end there is a section for recording significant media events from elsewhere.

Skype Video conferencing and other new technologies
• Application sharing is available now. 500 can watch my desktop
• they can see my face but 500 can see the application
• We can become producers of news now
• There is always going to be role for translators analysers of news

letters to the editor
• is the most read parts of the paper -- should we be encouraging letters??
• very lively, most read. Yes, write them!
• should we encourage letter writing campaigns?