Brian Conley Rethinks the Broadcast News Agency

Alive in Baghdad is inspired and ahead of its time.

When I found out that this ground-breaking project might be forced into retirement, despite its significant attention and praise, I was indignant.  How is this not a priority of our community?  I asked Brian for an interview to help spread the word of his project and its financial woes.  Instead, Brian blew my mind with ideas of realigned resources in a shifting television production paradigm.

### This summer at Pixelodeon, a festival for independent internet video LA, Mike Hudack, co-founder of Blip.tv, spoke of an emerging middle class of television producers empowered by open distribution.  Similarly, Jeff Jarvis has predicted/promoted the emergence of hyperlocal news.  Alive in Baghdad suits the emerging media production market Mike and Jeff describe.

Unfortunately, the eyeballs needed to sustain this more efficient use of news-gathering resources are not yet watching internet-TV, and so Alive in Baghdad struggles. In the meantime, Brian is reinventing the news agency. 

Alive in Baghdad (Tilzy.TV page) empowers Iraqis to document the impacts of this war on their lives.  It gives us access to perspectives that are as often left out as they are misunderstood. Like a respectable news agency, Brian’s goal is simply to inform.

Last year, Brian discussed his travel to Iraq and the challenges his Iraqi correspondents face on American Microphone

Here’s hoping for the continuation and support of an inspired vision.