Workshop: We Media - Mainstream Media Meets Participatory Journalism

By Gloria Romano
Latino Reporter Digital Staff

“Any journalist who expects to have a long career needs to understand the web and be confident in producing content for online,” said Rick Hirsch, Managing Editor, Multimedia & New Projects for The Miami Herald.

The workshop presented a broad overview of the ways mainstream media and alternative media work, from creating opportunities for ordinary people to participate in the news to helping understand citizens there are new forms of storytelling.

According to Hirsch, it is important to explore the citizen media and various media organizations “from big metros to some small foundations and engaging the public in producing journalism concrete.”

Ricardo Pimentel, editorial page editor for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, said there were some promising some promising ideas that could be applicable to other markets.

“I still wonder about the evolving audience and the business model that will be required to sustain a newsroom capable of doing real public watch dog journalism,” he said. “It was very helpful, and I think it was very well done.