PressEthic

George Clooney, the famous son of journalist Nick Clooney, featured a video on MySpace, "Footage From Sudan and Chad," providing images and substance for what many believe to be a story marginalized by major media. Adding George Clooney's celebrity attraction to a captive audience on MySpace ensured that the message, the reality of suffering and death in Darfur, reached many, many people. Conversely, had even the story been carried on the evening news more regularly, I believe there are people who watch television news and there are those who do not. MySpace was a mechanism to reach those who may not watch otherwise.

National Public Radio's Morning Edition carried a story about Darfur on November third. Citing part of the frustration by the United States and the United Nations as the refusal of the Sudanese government to cooperate and allow diplomatic intervention, the use of a blog and a podcast figured prominantly in international discourse.

The Sudanese government rejected the U.N. appointed Special Envoy after he blogged about Darfur. The envoy appointed by the United States was also rejected. He later podcasted his thoughts on Darfur from the website for the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Technology has made available not only the tools of media production but also the ease and accessibility of media consumption. Journalists of tomorrow, establishing themselves today, must be versatile, knowledgeable and capable of handling multimedia platforms and delivering on all of those fronts - and some not yet fully developed - for the readers, listeners and viewers of todays news.