We the Media

Grassroots journalists are dismantling Big Media's monopoly on the news, transforming it from a lecture to a conversation. Not content to accept the news as reported, these readers-turned-reporters are publishing in real time to a worldwide audience via the Internet. The impact of their work is just beginning to be felt by professional journalists and the newsmakers they cover. In We the Media: Grassroots Journalism by the People, for the People, nationally known business and technology columnist Dan Gillmor tells the story of this emerging phenomenon, and sheds light on this deep shift in how we make and consume the news.

We the Media is essential reading for all participants in the news cycle:

Consumers learn how they can become producers of the news. Gillmor lays out the tools of the grassroots journalist's trade, including personal Web journals (called weblogs or blogs), Internet chat groups, email, and cell phones. He also illustrates how, in this age of media consolidation and diminished reporting, to roll your own news, drawing from the array of sources available online and even over the phone.

Newsmakers politicians, business executives, celebrities get a wake-up call. The control that newsmakers enjoyed in the top-down world of Big Media is seriously undermined in the Internet Age. Gillmor shows newsmakers how to successfully play by the new rules and shift from control to engagement.

Journalists discover that the new grassroots journalism presents opportunity as well as challenge to their profession. One of the first mainstream journalists to have a blog, Gillmor says, "My readers know more than I do, and that's a good thing." In We the Media, he makes the case to his colleagues that, in the face of a plethora of Internet-fueled news vehicles, they must change or become irrelevant.

At its core, We the Media is a book about people. People like Glenn Reynolds, a law professor whose blog postings on the intersection of technology and liberty garnered him enough readers and influence that he became a source for professional journalists. Or Ben Chandler, whose upset Congressional victory was fueled by contributions that came in response to ads on a handful of political blogs. Or Iraqi blogger Zayed, whose Healing Irag blog (healingiraq.blogspot.com) scooped Big Media. Or acridrabbit, who inspired an online community to become investigative reporters and discover that the dying Kaycee Nichols sad tale was a hoax. Give the people tools to make the news, We the Media asserts, and they will.

Journalism in the 21st century will be fundamentally different from the Big Media that prevails today. We the Media casts light on the future of journalism, and invites us all to be part of it.


[미디어 리뷰]
"I am a prolific reader, on and offline, but have rarely read a business/industry book that has made a memorable impact ... [Dan] Gillmor is one of the most respected journalists and thinkers about new media, has long written for the San Jose Mercury News and keeps his own provocative blog. It is, therefore, no surprise that he has written the most important book about how the media world is changing - not tomorrow, but right now ... The stories are as amusing as they are provocative ... Gillmor's artistry is in writing in a language that the digerati will find technical enough, but will never lose us regular civilians...With his keen reporter's eye, but with no polemic, there is a clear description of worlds that are playing out with inevitable ramifications to the future of news and information and elsewhere...There is nothing in this book that makes us in traditional media or journalism comfortable, which is why everyone in this business - from content creation to advertisers trying to find ways to reach these audiences - should pay careful attention. We have entered a world where the individual matters most. If, as Gillmor raises, 'a scarcity of airwaves ... turns out to be an artifact of history and outmoded technology,' that anyone can soon download or upload whatever they want when and how they want it, all bets are on the table."
- Chris Schroeder, MediaPost, August 2004

"This is certainly the most important journalism book of this year, for it aptly details a gathering storm that is about to sweep away everything we thought we knew about the news."
- J.D. Lasica, Mindjack.com, August 2004

"Very simply, 'We the Media' should be required reading in journalism schools for students and professors. I'm serious. If you're a publisher, editor, or an actual breathing reporter, and you want to get up to speed on what is happening to your profession, you need to read this book...If you're interested in becoming a more active participant, in learning more about the role the once-passive, now-proactive audience is playing in creating, editing and filtering media, then you probably want to read this book too. We're all journalists now."
- Slashdot, August 2004
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