"Beyond the Anchor Desk"

By Adam Glenn

If you're in New York on  Tuesday, Oct. 9, try and come by a panel I'll be sitting in on at The Paley Center for Media (formerly the Museum of Television and Radio). I'll be in some amazing company for the 90-minute program, called "Beyond the Anchor Desk: The Rise of Citizen Journalism," There'll be folks like ex-CBS News President Andy Heyward, long-time TV documentary producer Jon Alpert and new media luminary Merrill Brown, as well as some rising citizen journalists themselves, including Debra Galant of Baristanet, a pair of young producers from Current TV and a poster from NowPublic.com.

The general aim of the panel is to give some historical perspective on what is now known as citizen journalism, but which has been evolving for a number of years. What I hope to contribute is my own sense of what citizen journalism is, and the extent to which its varied forms are spreading. But I'd also like to explore some of the failings of mainstream media that have led to citJ's rise (as well as some of the weaknesses of citJ), and ultimately the ways the two can complement each other.

Come by if you're in town. And I'll plan on posting further thoughts after the program, in case you miss it.