After an incredibly successful World Press Freedom Day Weekend, the photos have arrived! If you weren't able to make it out to the event, or if you were there and want some photos to help remember it by, we highly recommend taking a look at our flickr account for the rest of our photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/26501513@N03/sets/.
One of the most successful elements of the event was the ability for visitors to openly participate in the creating of their own news. "The New Era" of News invited participants to record their own versions of articles already covered in the mainstream media, that may not have been properly covered. The display also provided a forum for people to give their feedback on what they think of the current media, and what they would want from their media outlets in an ideal world. The issues that came up most consistently were wanting to know that stories are founded entirely on truth, wanting to see a separation between the government and the media, and of particular importance was ensuring that minority issues are being fairly represented.
The display seen hanging in the middle of the room is an illustration of the media-bias during the election period. One side of the display illustrates the percentage of each paper's stories that were slanted to be pro-BN, while the opposite side demonstrates the same papers' pro-Opposition coverage. This piece of installation art invoked a lot of thought in people who had not realized what a hand the media has to play in politics, and what a discrepancy there is between the pro-BN and pro-Opposition representation.
The event was a definite success, and we look forward to hearing any feedback you may have, and any thoughts you might have for what we should start thinking about for next year!
