Nrm

Journalism That Matters

Media Giraffe Project

D.W. Reynolds Journalism Institute

Rebooting Rockwell's America:

A PUBLIC SYMPOSIUM: September 11-13, 2009 / Stockbridge, Massachusetts

News, values, cafes and the new pamphleteers --
Sustaining democracy through civic engagement

New roles for journalism -- and the net -- in fostering participatory democracy and community

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The America of Norman Rockwell's mid-20th-century illustrations was rich with simple truths and sometimes hard choices. In his world, we respected authority, and the flag. We were asked to embrace justice, equality and tolerance. The country editor personified the Four Freedoms at the grassroots. On Sept. 11, 2001, it was as if the last vestiges of Rockwell's stoic, insular yet generous nation had been torn asunder, and a new, darker period of fear opened. And even the country editor now works with bits and bytes alongside type and ink. Yet if Facebook, MySpace, YouTube and Twitter have taught us anything, it's that many of us hunger for community more than ever.

"Rebooting Rockwell's America," will pause for three days to consider the roots of American community, freedom, democracy and the news -- and how a generation of new pamphleteers -- in cafes, schools, clubs and meeting rooms -- may be helping point our nation back to a community of common purpose, grounded in physical places, yet digitally connected with a world that grows smaller, faster, more diverse and more precious by the year.