What are the prospects of getting more independent journalists into news conferences? Imagine if serious, independent journalists were in the White House news room asking tough questions during the buildup of the Iraq war. Or now, most of the questions asked in the White House are queued off of a corporate crit of the administration's policies.
Would having independent journalists at such news conferences -- not just White House, but also State Dept, Pentagon and Justice Dept, etc -- would that lead to a broader culture where citizen journalists could develop a culture of holding politicians' feet to the fire, asking them tough questions and putting material on YouTube?
What needs to happen to develop that culture?
This would be part presentation, part discussion, part brainstorming. What makes for good questioning of government officials? How should it get out? How should such questioning be presented? What should independent media really look like? Should it follow party alignment, or should it be able to seriously question all political factions?
Will feature videos questioning John McCain, Colin Powell, Nancy Pelosi, John Edwards, Mike Pence, John Negroponte and others.