detroit hip hop

Live from Detroit, we caught a glimpse of the Allied Media Conference after party at the Furniture Factory on Saturday night with Monica Blaire, DJ Dez from Slum Village and DJ Sicari providing a down and dirty Detroit funk celebration for the attendees from around the country. The infectious energy was palpable with hundreds of mostly 20-somethings partying after engaging discussions about social justice and alternative media conducted in panels that ran throughout the weekend in the heart of the Motor City. In the backdrop of the current times with journalism in a state of flux, this conference is poignant, important and growing more powerful. Here are the next generations of journalists taking an interest in Detroit, outside of those who once focused on new car glitz and now centered on the auto industry woes.

Sessions included presentations from a Los Angeles immigrant group that coordinates using mobile phone technology to spread messages and others that explored pop culture’s arms focusing on shows like Heroes and Gossip Girl to provide a model for restructuring messages. Another panel highlighted Spread Magazine’s balanced coverage of sex workers, without playing into the stereotypes perpetuated by sensationalism.

Here’s a blurb on another panel that has us jazzed about what happens in the trenches of discussion as corporate media declines:

Journalism is essential for an open and healthy society, but it hasn’t always been open or healthy. The AMC network does a lot to change this. We expand journalism by sharing skills, building infrastructure, and breaking down barriers. Yet many audiences, including those who are sympathetic to our politics, dismiss our work as “advocacy” or “amateur.” Now the entire institution of journalism is in crisis, especially as the print-based, advertising-supported model declines. This is an opportunity to promote our participatory models, but to do that we need to shift the public frame of journalism to encompass a broader range of journalists. This discussion will draw on the knowledge of all participants to figure out how to make that shift and gain widespread acceptance for our work.
Word.

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