Proposal: Web-to-reality ("BE the Media")

[StefanX]

I think it's time to start developing technology which will allow the best stories from DU and other sites to get re-published off the web - on paper, on CD, on DVD. We've seen now that our news is way more important than the crap from the "mainstream" media. It's time to develop technology which will transfer the best of the web into the real world - onto paper, onto audio CDs, onto video DVDs.

I'm so tired of reading MAJOR stuff on the web and then hearing people desperately saying "We need to get this into the media!" I'm also tired of seeing millions of dollars raised for political advertising - which ends up in the pockets of the ENEMY (the corporate media).

It's time to figure out how to go the last few yards ourselves. The web is generating kick-ass articles now -- as most DUers have discovered. For some of us, the web has revolutionized how we get our information. Meanwhile, the mainstream media continues to betray our brothers and sisters who are not so web-inclined.

The main problem with the US isn't just the corrupt politicians - it's the corrupt media. Politicians come and go but think about it - some of these media traitors have jobs lasting 30 years. Sleazebags like Novak and Miller stick around longer than some Supreme Court Justices. Now we just found out that Time magazine WITHHELD the Rove scandal story because they didn't want to hurt Bush before the election. The media is killing us. Literally.

For a great post on just how rotten the Kewl Kids of the Beltway media are, see this recent post from Digby/Hullabaloo.

We're starting to see 3 things clearly:

(1) The "mainstream" corporate media is NOT mainstream - they are AGAINST the People.

(2) With the web, the REAL stories get covered and the people are INFORMED. This happens mainly because stories truly important to the People get voted on and "float to the top."

(3) Only when the People are INFORMED can we vote to actually make this world a better place.

I look at this as mainly a TECHNOLOGY issue (and a copyright issue). Because of blog and bulletin boards technology, for the first time ever we have the ability to really know what's going on in the world.

But this is only reaching as far as people who use the Internet. There's a LOT of other people who for whatever reason still get their news from newspapers and TV. We need to start reaching out to those people as well now. They would be so EXCITED if they could hear some real news for a change instead of the stale, boring, lifeless drivel and lies peddled by the corporate media.

We need to start thinking of some "killer apps" which could make it easy to transfer the best blog posts onto paper, CD and DVD. Once this stuff from the web gets "out there" it's going to be a whole new ball game.

- For paper, I'm thinking of something which could maybe "flow" RSS feeds or DU "Greatest" posts automatically or semi-automatically into a PDF document, ready to print.

- For audio, I'm thinking of websites where people could read or say their favorite posts or rants, upload them, get the best ones "voted to the top", and then download and burn the hottest ones to (rewritable) audio CDs.

- And for video, I'm thinking of taking indymedia and "citizen journalism" uploads and also voting on them and getting the best ones burned to (rewritable) DVD.

The corporate media has shown that they're our enemy - but now we have the tools to fight back. Many of us have thousands of dollars worth of keyboards, printers, cameras, microphones, and computers - the equivalent of a printing press or a broadcast studio right in our own homes. All we need to do now is make it easy to vote on the best stuff from the web (which we're already doing) and to get it transferred to paper/CD/DVD so that everyone else can share it. I think this would start a real media revolution and let us see the TRUTH: that this country really is over 80% Dem.

[Melodybe]

1. Don't forget Al Gore's Current TV, with enough greenlights we can get

anything on.

[StefanX]

2. That's a good idea

Current TV would definitely be a great place to broadcast stuff. And the if people on the web could be involved in GENERATING and FILTERING (voting on) stuff to get broadcast, then that would almost guarantee good ratings.

On the other hand, the danger is that if Current TV ends up a being bunch of producers working in isolation, they're going to end up in bed with the people they're supposed to be covering.

The power we're seeing nowadays comes from ALL OF US working together on the web - discussing, arguing, getting to know each other, hearing different points of view, everyone throwing in their 2 cents' worth.

We need a conduit from the web to Current TV. Some kind of website where anyone can go and say: "Here's this cool video I shot and I want to upload it." Or maybe: "Here's an idea for a news story but I don't have a camera - can anyone out there cover it and upload it?" Then everyone on the web can rate the different videos and the hot ones make it to Current TV.

MoveOn did something like this where they had a bunch of ads which were competing against each other - people on the web voted on their favorite ads. Only one of the ads "won" and then the next step was to beg for the opportunity to pay millions of dollars to some network to run it.

With Current TV, maybe the Top 20 MoveOn ads (voted on by The People) could all be aired.

DU gets about a million visitors a week I heard. Kos gets about 3 million. That's where our strength comes from. We're smarter than any focus group and smarter than any producer/programmer for any network. We need a way to channel that strength into the old-time media so that the rest of the country can share it.

[Melodybe]

3. Completely agreed

and kicked and nominated

[StefanX]

4. Here's a great video

It's so moving it made me get goosebumps.

http://www.thebattleforamerica.com/

A bunch of people got together and made this great video, and I'll bet it's probably more exciting and more moving and more important than 99% of what's being shown on cable today.

But only a few thousand people are going to see it. You have to have a web connection, and hunt around, and maybe run across it because someone posted about it on DU or on a blog.

Yahoo or AOL certainly ain't gonna feature it on their "portals". And no way is a cable company going to run this sort of video. And NYT and WaPo are NEVER going to report on it.

So how do we get this stuff out there? People would LOVE to watch this stuff - but how do we get it out to them?

Simple. We set up some website where people can vote on their favorite video clips. Then we do a weekly anthology or compilation of video clips - just what will fit onto a 4.7 gigabyte DVD. Anyone can come and vote for their favorite clips. Competition will get intense, because...

THE TOP CLIPS ARE GOING TO BE PUT INTO A BIG FILE SUITABLE FOR BURNING ONTO DVD. AND PEOPLE ARE GOING TO GET *PAID* AND BECOME *FAMOUS*.

What do you think would happen to the media in this country if every week WE THE PEOPLE released a 2-hour DVD filled with this kind of stuff, once a week? People would be downloading it and burning it and watching it like crazy. They'd give it to their friends and EVERYONE would see it and we'd break out of this depression induced by all the assholes lying to us via the "mainstream" media.

We wouldn't even have to give the "underground DVD" away for free. What if we set up a system where the people who created the clips could get paid, the people who burned the DVDs could get paid - and the people who sold the DVDs could get paid?

I bet people would pay 5 bucks to see a really important "Underground DVD". That money could be divided up between the video producers, the DVD burning people, the distributors. We could generate jobs AND get our message out.

Yeah, I know there's lots of "kinks" to work out in this kind of grassroots production/distribution system. But we're already sending millions of dollars to do-nothing candidates so they can hand that money over to the know-nothing networks. What have we got to lose if we try to go around that corrupt system and keep the money to ourselves?

A stack of 100 DVDs costs 80 bucks at BestBuy. Someone with a burner could burn 100 DVDs and sell them for 5 dollars each, that's $500 - $420 profit. Say we have an "honor system" where they're supposed to give back 50% of profits via paypal to the people who actually made the videos. So the DVD distrubutor keeps $210 and uploads $210 via paypal - which gets divvied up among all the people whose videos were included on that DVD.

Maybe a few "blogad"-type advertisers might also want to kick in some money - if we set up a working "video underground". That means even more money to go around.

These videos would be HOT. Given the alternative of watching the watered-down garbage we get on TV versus hearing something really important and exciting, this could become a whole new market AND get a different message out from the crap we keep hearing on cable - AND give some "new talent" a chance to be heard.

I'm sick and tired of having to "beg" the networks to show stuff which we KNOW is way better than the garbage they keep shoving down our throats. We have the power NOW to become the media - we have DVD burners and "best of" web-voting systems and paypal. We're already getting way better stuff uploaded to the web, and it's starting to get filtered and voted on so that the best stuff is rising to the top. The next step is to get this stuff off the web and into EVERYONE'S lives. Then Hannity and O'Reilly and Limbaugh will be seen for what they are: a bunch of talent-nobodies that nobody likes. The blinders will come off and people will realize that this country is over 80% Democratic.