Louise Owens Media

Yesterday Mary Wilson (RTE Radio 1 Drivetime) chaired a debate in Dalkey town hall, which featured Michael Cawley (Ryanair), Mark Little (Storyful, former RTE Journalist & Broadcaster), Justine McCarthy (Journalist) and Shane Ross (Senator). 

It was a lively debate which, not surprisingly, centred around the state of the economy rather than the nation, although Justine McCarthy nicely challenged this rhetoric. 

Although the panel gave robust and informative views on the state of the nation, there was much participation from the large audience.  Challenges put forward to the panel were focused on private sector competitiveness, public sector efficiency, the media as enablers, corrupt politicians and of course the recession and unemployment.  

I was disappointed that I only got to attend two of the discussions, but it looks like they will make it an annual event, so I'm sure next year will be bigger and better!! 

I attended Mark Little's talk today in Ouzo's, Dalkey.  Mark focused his discussion on cybercultural communication (i.e. instantly accessible mobile video recording, Facebook, Twitter etc...).  

As a Journalist in traditional media for the past 20 years, Mark gave many examples of how this dynamic phenomenon has changed the way news reaches the masses, and is making traditional journalism redundant.  

In response to this change, Mark has set up a company called Storyful.  When launched this summer, Storyful will act as a live newswire using Twitter as a source, and will authenticate and distribute the relevant news to other media outlets.  

I can certainly see it working well as a business, even though I only recently succumbed to Twitter...and I'm starting to like it!