Last weekend, I managed to attend just one panel discussion at the low-key Muddy Boot Organic Festival (it did have Bill McKibben as keynote). The panel “Media’s role in a sustainable culture” comprised
- Becky Brun, editor, Sustainable Industries;
- Steve Law, editor, Sustainable Life section, Portland Tribune;
- Trillium Shannon, news and public affairs director, KBOO Community Radio;
- Hank Stern, managing news editor, Willamette Week; and
- Martin Tull, director of sustainable technology, Formos, as moderator.
The discussion, which included the audience, touched on a number of points; I found these two the most timely and interesting.
Media aspirations
Asked about goals or aspirations of their respective publications, the panelists responded this way (I summarize and paraphrase):
- KBOO - to bring voices into the sustainability conversation that are not otherwise heard, such as communities of color and low-income or homeless people
- Willamette Week – to question the orthodoxy
- Portland Tribune – to stay in business
- Sustainable Industries – to help our audiences profit from sustainable business
It makes me wonder which outlet will survive and which one will thrive…
Green content
Each publication is open to reader input or story pitches, though each prefers a different route. What the panelists agreed on was that green is no longer a story. Pitches from companies about their new green products or initiatives or certifications like LEED will fall on deaf ears – everybody’s doing it, it’s all over the place, which makes it anything but news. Green as a story is simply passe.
Sustainable Industries as a specialty publication seeks stories about cutting edge, innovative practices. For mainstream outlets like Willamette Week or Portland Tribune or grassroots ones like KBOO, interesting content includes human interest stories and novel or unusual angles on the topic of sustainability.
It seems that regardless of where old media is headed, “news” cannot be divorced from “media”.
What’s your story?
