Chris Cramer is director of Reunters New Media Development. He spoke at the Global Forum for Media Development in Greece earlier in December.

[note: this is not a full transcript. It is not verbatim. It is something I typed up as i listened…but the core of what he’s saying is quite fascinating and useful… ]

Chris Cramer: The most disturbing and the most promising are connected. If you live in the states and travel to Europe, which I do – you would think the bottom is dropping out of the old business, that thousands journalists are losing jobs every week, that the business model is broken, that the private and public paradigm doesn’t exist anymore, and that the public think [the news media] is irrelevant. That’s the disturbing part.

Well, I actually don’t think it’s true.

I think it’s an extraordinary time to re-invent the business. Some journalists are incredibly arrogant to the way they dispense their wisdom and knowledge to viewers. That is, when they feel like it. Some are blind to what’s going on and some are in complete denial. The traditional media in most part of the world is a thing of the past. There are a billion devices to record the world.

If you threw a stick out there you’d hit fifty video recording devices – the dynamic has changed. The entire world [has become] news gatherers – some of the most extraordinary events are reported by ordinary citizens. The execution of Sadam Hussein was covered by a prison guard with his cell phone…and he went to jail for his trouble. But his video was viewed around the world.

Here’s my prediction…I think every key event going forward will be covered by members of public, by ordinary people… and not by traditional journalists on the scene.

Without reaching out, without putting their arms around [new reality] and accept people with their capacity to be news gatherers there will be many news businesses that are going to fail.

People out there have a greater capacity [to write] the initial drafts of history that have always been the prerogative of journalists.

There’s something to be said about connecting the dots … Media driven not by content but CONTEXT. In a world of content, context is King. The role of news organizations, of journalists, are to tell people why they should care about anything. This is a very important journalistic point.

[There’s enormous explosion of media in India. Watching Indian TV out off Mumbai reporting terrorist attack… my blood was racing. I was excited by what these media was capable of airing. I thought I was not comfortable with some of what they were reporting. But I’d like to know what they don’t know as well… The areas that they are not covering. Some really intelligent information about this horrible event… ]

Here’s a fantastic opportunity for a mature media org to tell its audience: Here’s what we know. Here’s what we don’t know. Here’s our analyses of the current situation. It takes a brave organization to say, “Stop the train and let’s just think and think intelligently. Let’s not write articles for other people in the newsroom.”

Q: What advice do you have for people who are coming to the profession?

Chris: My advice is that you better come on to the business with a sense of humor. It’s a prerequisite. Don’t hang up skills you learned in multimedia. Those skills are more important, now than they ever be. People you are working for can’t teach you those skills. You’ve got to have a desire to change the world. It’s as important as an ability to write well and fill out stories.

One thing you should know is an absolute understanding of legacy of the organization you are joining. History counts for something. Reputation arrives on foot and leaves on horseback. Your reputation is on what you write tomorrow, not yesterday.

Editorial integrity… does not mean you can’t be passionate. It does not mean you needn’t produce great journalism. It does mean nobody gets a free ride. It does not mean you are not to bring in your biases but that you need to tell people that you are opinionated. You need to label it. Much of the media in US … suggests that it’s fair but its’ absolutely not balance. Many news organizations pretend to be to be fair, full of equality, etc but they are anything but that..

There are many siren voices about the future [of journalism]. We have a formidable opportunity. There are new upstarts organizations to continue incredible works – [doing works of people before us?]. A number of things have to change: the idea of drip-feeding whenever you feel like it, is gone forever. Audience are – it matters not if your 20 or 80 – leaning forward, are engaged and many want to change the outcome of the news. [They] want to engage. They’re not prepared to be lectured anymore. They want to influence what’s going on in the world. There are organizations in print and broadcast that won’t be here in a few years. There are those that’ll evolve. Looking out 4 to 5 years time I see an extraordinary landscape…The media industry will be populated by people wanting to do the right thing.

See:

Letter From Athens: Greek Tragedies & the News Media in the Age of Twitter

Listen to Andrew Lam on WNYC talking about Greece

Ten Minutes of Fame

New Skills for the New Media

No Tears for the Chronicle?