Jarvis-comments

Introductory comments by Jeff Jarvis at MGP2006

Here's a transcript of BuzzMachine blogger Jeff Jarvis' comments helping to open the Media Giraffe Project summit at the University of Massachusetts Amherst on June 28, 2006:

"I would like to suggest that we take a couple of pledges. The first is that I hope we don't have another damn conference about bloggers vs. journalists. (applause) Those days are over, or they ought to be. We're here. We gotta' figure out a new world. I woudl also hope that it is not about preserving the past. That it's not about complaining. That's not not about seeing each other here as competition. That it's not about working apart as different groups. And its not about any us vs. any them. So what is it about?

"I hope that this conference can be about opportunities. If any group can come together and figure out the reality of this new world and what we can do with it, I hope it is this room. It's about success stories. Even though sometimes we are to darn soon for success stories. I was at the table where people are starting a business in a few weeks. There is no success there yet, but there will be.

"And the next thing is there is invention. There is creativity in this world of journalism which is what it needs. If our goal this night is to talk about how it will stay relevant, than it better be our job to make it relevant in this new world. So its about reality checks, its about cooperation and its about working together. So I hope that's where its headed with this one because frankly I've been to too many conferences where it is the same old stuff of one going against the other. We've gone through four or five years of that now. Enough.

"There is a tremendous collection of brains in this room that can reinvent the future and it needs reinventing. Journalism needs reinvention in a world where there are so many new possibilities. So let's have at it."