Getting the Message Out | Nov 7th at 5:47pm
Here’s a preview of the situation: design journalists attend conferences like this one all year long. They know how bad things are: how the world is in peril. They know how brilliant some of the architects, planners, designers and engineers are — and how hard it is for them to get the attention of the regular folks who don’t get this kind of information every day.
The question remains: how come the media haven’t turned the rest of the world into converts for change? Given the amount of information they put out there, how come they haven’t developed a voice that transmits the inconvenient truths with the urgency they require? Or maybe they do. And we just don’t listen.
I’ve been thinking lately that what will cause change is not the media but community organizations. Maybe the media just needs to report the news and not act as advocates. Thoughts?
Diana Lind is editor in chief of Next American City magazine.
Elizabeth Dickinson on Fri, Nov 07, 2008 at 6:50pm
Great question! I have this debate with other journalists all the time. I tend to land on the side of reporting on the advocacy as a form of advocacy. Seeking and telling the right stories. But there is another aspect - looking at the ways that media can foster change in other ways. Metropolis, for example, sponsors its Next Generation Design Award, which pushes sustainable design and gives a substantial award to to the winners. It’s a different kind of advocacy. (It’s open to submissions now by the way, so young designers should apply. The theme this year is, appropriate to this conference, Energy).
John Reinhardt in Washington, DC on Sun, Nov 09, 2008 at 8:03am
What about the media as facilitator/community organizer? What I’ve always liked about NAC is that you hit the streets with events such as 24hrs so that people have the opportunity to see, touch, smell the city first hand. How about sponsoring some community design charettes around he country so that citizens could express their thoughts on how THEY envision themselves living in a post-oil age? Facilitating such events and reporting on them could be a great way for the “regular folks” to feel empowered and listened to.
As for why more people don’t respond to the information of architects/planners/landscape architects as communicated through journalists? In my own experience, it’s easy to ignore/delay a call to change when you’re sitting in a living room curled up with a cup of tea and a magazine/laptop - the only way I currently know to access the great thoughts you all have posted to the web.