No Comment Dept.

Jack Cafferty: Is Anna Nicole Smith still dead, Wolf?
Wolf Blitzer: Yes. We're going to be updating our viewers shortly on --
Cafferty: Can't wait for that.
Blitzer: -- the mysterious circumstance surrounding that. Jack, thank you.

WeMedia 2007: Citizen News - On the Rise or Temporary Phenomenon

Jemima Kiss reports on The Guardian Unlimited's Organ Grinder blog that a consensus at WeMedia found the most useful part of the conference to be in the running discussion that went on in the corridors outside the conference hall.

NowPublic co-founder Michael Tippett said that an "unconference" format would give more people the opportunity to speak. "Someone should do a conference that's just eight hours of people networking in a hallway," he told Mark Glaser on PBS MediaShift, "instead of trying to fit in chaotic schmoozing between bites of salami."

It appears that, for all the effort they're making, the established media still don't know what to make of the digital media environment. "They are trying to change the vocabulary without changing the grammar," PressThink blogger Jay Rosen told Glaser. "They use the new vocabulary [of new media] but they are not changing their mindset, and accepting a loss of control."

Speaker and Global Conversations blogger Shel Israel said that, after his talk, "a representative of one of the most powerful media companies in the world told me, 'every year, for three years, we gather together and talk such a good game about the changes we have to make. Then we go home and do almost nothing until the next WeMedia, when we gather together to talk a good game....'"

Jim Kennedy, VP and director of strategy at AP, also told Kiss that in five years' time, the media will realise that the right things haven't been talked about. "The debate is over us vs them, and that's unfortunate. The focus has been on things like how we can give them headlines in a way we can sell, but it's not about that. It's about getting information into these social networks in a way that feels comfortable to people, that doesn't intimidate them, and that allows them to share it."

Kennedy said that the news conversation is being transformed into a giant social network. "Now we know the foundations on which big media was built are trembling and there are different reactions to that. Some are barricading the doors, watching what others are doing, and some are more embracing. The fact is we don't even know what to call citizen media - there are about 20 names for it," he said.

Full coverage of WeMedia from OrganGrinder on Thursday and Friday, and more roundups of round-ups on Technorati. Observations on WeMedia 2007 by JD Lasica, social media blogger and Darknet author.

The rest of the story: Organ Grinder
Mainstream Media Wants to Take Back Control (Mark Glaser, Media Shift PBS)
WeMedia 2007 Mashup