Please join in via chat or by using the Twitter hashtag #magd. How do you think the media is doing in helping divergent cultures understand and empathize with one another? Is technology delivering on its promise to democratize media in a true sense? What could we be doing better?

Dive in and be heard:

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You’ll able to engage panelists through a live chat and Twitter (#magd). We encourage you to take part! Sign up and find full details of the event at www.usip.org.

The summit, Seizing the Moment: Media and Peacebuilding, will be moderated by NPR’s Michel Martin, host of the acclaimed program Tell Me More, and will bring together more than 20 thought leaders, CEOs, media makers, and policy gurus to tackle the tough questions around leveraging today’s global media to facilitate conflict resolution and contribute to the expansion of peace.

The summit will present a series of three discussions (The New News:  Media at the Crossroads, Storytelling 2.0: Keeping it Real,Opening Minds, and Changing Hearts, and Next Generation Peacebuilders) alongside select content from new documentaries coming to PBS and other outlets, including the Academy® Award-nominated The Most Dangerous Man in America and Project Kashmir airing on Independent Lens on May 18th.

The day’s panelists include:

• Jared Cohen—Secretary of State’s Policy Planning Staff, U.S. Department of State
• Patricia Harrison—President and CEO, Corporation for Public Broadcasting
• Marvin Kalb—Veteran Broadcaster and Visiting Expert, USIP
• Riz Khan—Senior  News Anchor, Al Jazeera English
• Gary Knell—President and CEO, Sesame Workshop
• Mir Ibrahim Rahman—CEO, Geo TV Pakistan

Please tune in and add your voice to this important conversation.

Continuing the dialogue, Media as a Global Diplomat II: New Findings on the Science of Media and Conflict took place today, October 1 from 9:30 AM to 1:00 PM EDT at the U.S. Institute of Peace.

This summit included a keynote by her majesty Queen Noor of Jordan. ITVS Vice President of Distribution Tamara Gould moderated a discussion about the responsibility of filmmakers and storytellers to create media that serves the public interest.

Other panelists included: Michael Medavoy, Hollywood studio executive (Apocalypse Now, Raging Bull) and author of American Idol After Iraq: Winning Hearts and Minds in the Global Media Age; Riz Khan, senior news anchor, Al Jazeera English; Arik Bernstein, founder of Alma Films and creator of Gaza-Sderot – Life in spite of everything; and Lucas Welch, president and founder of Soliya.

Learn more by visiting the United States Institute of Peace Web site >>

Moderated by Ted Koppel, representatives from Google, National Geographic, MTV, Al Jazeera, the U.S. State Department, ITVS and others will develop media involvement recommendations to present to the new administration.

Bloggers from around the world will participate and ask questions, including Lois Vossen, vice president and Independent Lens series producer, representing ITVS.

Missed the streaming video? The event was recorded and is available on the USIP website. Visit their site for the latest updates >>

Panelists from “The Global Media Marketplace” session.

Ted Koppel welcomed back the attendees for the second panel, titled “The Global Media Marketplace” by giving a brief history of the television news business. Koppel explained that when CBS launched 60 Minutes in 1968, it surprised everyone by making money. Suddenly, the network said “maybe news can be a revenue generator” and it went from being a bonus to being an expectation. The economic model has driven network news into a consistent mode of cost-cutting and having the primary goal as reaching younger audiences to maximize and monetize advertising dollars. Network evening news is somewhat of an exception to this rule, but it too has moved quickly to an advertising-based model.

The Global Media Marketplace panel includes Smita Singh, director of Global Development Program at the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation; Edward Borgerding, CEO of the Abu Dhabi Media Company; Carol Giacomo, editorial board member of The New York Times; Mika Salmi, president of global digital media of MTV Networks; and Sydney Suissa, executive vice president of content at National Geographic Channels International. The first topic raised by Sydney Suissa was funding. According to him, the U.S. public television system is dramatically underfunded (especially compared to all other Western countries). As a result, the United States is not getting the amount of foreign news that it wants or needs in a democracy. Koppel asked Giacomo to predict what will become of The New York Times in the next ten years given the financial struggles it also faces. Giacomo said the owners remain committed to the longevity of the newspaper and to first-class domestic and international news coverage. Edward Borgerding of the Abu Dhabi Media Company then explained it is impossible to separate the business side of media from the content side. The business models are changing in fundamental ways because people can get access to content in other ways without paying for it (i.e. in the music industry where fans can get it online for less and therefore the revenue pie for the music industry has shrunk). The revenue graph for global media is a melting ice cube, Borgerding explained. The media industry is going through a fundamental shift in its business model and therefore how content is funded and created. “We’re trading analog dollars for Internet dimes,” he said.

Smita Singh of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation spoke about being the odd one out on the panel since she does not come from commercial media. Following 9/11, many Americans were asking “How come the world hates us so much?” and the Hewlett Foundation board of directors asked the question, “Why do Americans know so little about the rest of the world that they have to ask this question?” Through that question, the Hewlett Foundation began to understand how they could become a catalyst in the media landscape and support international filmmakers in the U.S. media marketplace. The goal of their funding of ITVS International is to stimulate an appetite for international stories across the entire scope of the U.S.

The panel discussion wrapped up with a final question about the future of news and its financial sustainability. Former Ambassador James Collins summed up that in the marketplace, “News is a loser.” It doesn’t make money. It can’t sustain itself financially in the business model that is now pervasive in the media world. Sydney Suissa of National Geographic feels that the solution is a strong, well-funded public broadcasting system. Mika Salmi of MTV joked that the government could buy Facebook. While the idea is meant as a joke, Salmi believes that the U.S. government must support expansive media. Carol Giacomo of The New York Times thinks that if we believe news sources like The New York Times are vital to a healthy democracy, then we must find a way to fund and support them, perhaps even with public funding. Ed Borgerding of the Abu Dhabi Media Company reminded us that there will always be news and what we need to focus on is how to keep it from being commercially corrupted. Smita Singh of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation made a call for more public funding of media that will advance public diplomacy, but also stipulated she’s not advocating that government create media but rather they need to be arms length away from the content creation. Koppel closed the panel by pointing out the popularity of NPR’s two morning news shows that have an audience of 14 million, and that alone proves there is an appetite for substantive news.

-Lois Vossen, vice president and Independent Lens series producer

ITVS President and CEO Sally Jo Fifer gives introductions.

Moderator Ted Koppel

It is snowing here in Washington, DC and we’re tucked inside the Freedom Forum at the Newseum for the one-day “Media as Global Diplomat” conference, moderated by Ted Koppel. About 250 people are gathered at the forum to ask key public and private sector leaders how the United States can best use media to reinvigorate its public diplomacy strategy and international influence in order to strengthen efforts to build a more peaceful world. In an age of disruptive and constantly changing period of media, comes an opportunity.

The morning session began with introductions by Ambassador Richard Solomon and Sally Jo Fifer, president of ITVS. Moderator Ted Koppel welcomed the first panel with the very hip name “Public Diplomacy 2.0: Rethinking Official Media.” The panelists include Kathy Bushkin Calvin, executive vice president and COO of the United Nations Foundation; Ambassador Edward Djerejian, founding director of the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy; Abderrahim Foukara, Washington, DC bureau chief of Al Jazeera International; Ambassador James Glassman, former Under Secretary of State Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs at the U.S. State Department; Andrew McLaughlin, director of Global Public Policy and Government Affairs for Google; and James Zogby, founder and president of the Arab American Institute.

Koppel opened the discussion by challenging the concept of “public” diplomacy and whether or not it is possible for the public to have a positive effect on diplomacy. As the panel continued, the term was defined and redefined by different panelists. The expansive topic led to a vast array of topics. Andrew McLaughlin spoke about the dramatic changes in the media landscape and specifically how any American with a computer and Internet hook-up can speak to anyone else in the world. Twenty years ago, the opportunity for an “average” citizen to do this was non-existent. Now, almost every American citizen is possibly a citizen ambassador. Abderrahim Foukara spoke about the history of the BBC (established originally as a propaganda outlet against Nazi Germans). Despite that birthright, people quickly embraced the BBC and continue to trust what they hear on it.

McLaughlin challenged the panel to refocus on the real issue with the statement: “Debating whether television should be state funded or privately funded is like arguing if the Titanic should have been government funded or privately funded.” Koppel countered, “It ain’t the media, it’s the message” and then talked about the commandments on tablets with a final thought, “Great message. Lousy medium.”

Koppel then introduced Oscar Morales Guevara from Colombia via Skype. Guevara recapped how a Facebook posting led to more than 5 million people marching to protest the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. In addition to the massive support the viral campaign generated inside Colombia, the campaign grew internationally as Colombians around the world joined the cause. Koppel asked the panel to consider if this event was the greatest example of public diplomacy, and if and how it should be replicated? Ambassador Glassman responded by citing examples of continued work in this area including a YouTube campaign.

Foukara both supported and challenged earlier comments by McLaughlin by saying it is increasingly true that it’s not, “what’s on television” but “what’s online” and if the Internet had existed long ago, King Lear would have said “My Kingdom, my Kingdom for a lap top” rather than a horse. However, illiteracy is still a very large problem in many developing, third world countries and that fact cannot be ignored in terms of how powerful the Internet is right now. In short, television is still the primary media outlet for most developing countries.

In addition to bringing in the voice and experiences of Oscar Morales Guevara live from Colombia, Koppel is taking questions from bloggers around the world–the latest being from Bahrain.

Be sure to watch the live feed above continuing throughout today!

-Lois Vossen, vice president and Independent Lens series producer