One thing I know is true- real innovation - the disruptive idea that declares independence from the old system - can only happen at the edge.
So this spring when I got a call from Howard Blumenthal CEO of MiND, in Philadelphia, my instincts told me that this was a very very important call.
No TV operation is more unique than MiND (or, properly, MiND: Media Independence).
MiND is not a PBS affiliate. It broadcasts a stream of 5-minute programs, many made by MiND’s staff producers, some made by members of the public who attend MiND’s production Boot Camps. MiND is both on air and on the web. The staff have their own voice in a way that I have never seen anywhere before in media or ANY other place of work. It was not only a novel TV operation - it was a novel organization. It was what a 2.0 organization would be like- inside and outside. As an independent community licensee, MiND makes the most of its freedom--and engages everyone who walks through the door.
So I booked my flight and flew down to see Howard and his team.
So what did I find? How to make TV, the Gutenberg of our time.
You don't believe me? Please invest 5 minutes in this film.
Did you get it? I found it compelling. A beautifully crafted story. Here is a heartfelt comment on IMDB. Made by a real pro - right? No - made by a regular citizen, Leontyne Anglin, whose passion is the topic but who had never made a film before.
The impact of Gutenberg's technology in the 1500's was to give people a voice. If video and TV are the main means of communication today, then the "New TV" must give people a voice. This is surely more than uploading to YouTube or adding comments to a web video. Merely pointing and shooting does not make you a filmmaker. When you have the ability to tell a story well - then you need a place where your early work reaches an audience with an already-established relationship with a trusted brand.
This is what happens at MiND. Day-in and day-out. It’s the reason why the system was built. And it’s working.
The key to MiND is found in its willingness to help the public learn how to be real video storytellers. MiND’s core members have joined a tribe of filmmakers with something to say. MiND’s eagerness to provide every storyteller access to its Trusted Space makes all the difference—MiND is a branded space that adds real depth and texture to the word “public” in the term “public television.”
How does MiND do this?
First of all, MiND employs a production staff drawn from the public and not from the priesthood. It has attracted such a staff by its culture and by its remarkable intern-and-volunteer system. While many stations regard interns as more trouble than they are worth, MiND has transformed coping with, and training, more than 200 interns into common practice. As such, the keen are fed into the system and the cream rise to the top. Nearly a third of MiND’s current staff members started as either volunteers or interns.
Secondly, MiND has built a transformational training system modeled on and called ‘Boot Camp.’ It is transformational in that a citizen comes in with all sorts of wild expectations about television and media; after six hours of intensive training, she is on the path to making a real MiND program that will go on the air and become part of MiND’s extensive internet library of 5-minute programs. In time, she becomes an enabled storyteller.
Leontyne went to a MiND Boot Camp. She was a doubter - MiND’s promise seemed too good to be true. But Leontyne and two others at the Boot Camp took up the challenge. They developed an idea, checked back with MiND to make sure they were on the right track, and made a terrific MiND program.
As a result, Leontyne is a new person--and now, one of MiND’s most vocal advocates. On her own terms, she has become video- and story- literate. She possesses new power in the most powerful medium of our age.
She is not an anomaly.
Here is a short documentary film made by another MiND intern. It's broadcast quality in every way - a strong story line and intricate editing combine old and new footage. The person who made this film has become an accomplished filmmaker--and is now a teacher at a small college in New England.
MiND is creating a core of accomplished story/film makers who can help their community as storytellers. In time, with MiND’s support, Philly (and in time, other cities that may carry a local version of MiND as their own service) can develop a cadre of the new, media-literate creative workers engaged in the betterment of their home, their neighborhood, their city. It does not take much to imagine what they could do.
The incentive that MiND offers its "students" and interns is that not only will they gain the skills that they will need for our time, but that the work will be showcased on TV and the web--by a Trusted Brand.
All artists want their work to have an audience. TV is 1.0 but it offers a reward like no other. "Hey Mom my work is on TV!" So MiND is expanding its reach to other markets. It is building a national alliance in most of the key markets of the US - details here. The bigger the audience, the greater the impact.
So what next?
It is no secret that all the public stations in Pennsylvania are under pressure because their Governor plans to cut all state funding. MiND’s low cost approach makes it especially vulnerable--just completing its first year, MiND has focused on operational efficiency, programming and community; MiND’s first revenue programs are just beginning, and are insufficient to cover a 40% cut in the total budget. MiND will not stop--but it will slow down as resources disappear.
This is the reason for my post today--to encourage the public television community to consider what MiND has done in its first year, and how its ideas might be used to reinvigorate a tired system. MiND is not the full answer but it contains most of the DNA for the full answer and so I felt compelled to tell its story now.
What can we all learn from this?
• Set up a new organization to do this - The station culture is key. MiND is a 2.0 Culture. Here is how it sees itself. These are not simply words on a page. With 30 plus years in the field of culture - I observed first hand that this is no bull - what they say is how they are. So you cannot change all your station culture to be like this. I also know that to be true. So what can you do? Clay Christenson is clear - set up a separate organization to house this aspect of the new - your transformational organization. I know of several stations that are thinking along these lines. You cannot make this shift inside the old--but you can make the shift if the new is allowed to grow alongside the old.
• The Goal Is Self Reliance - The goal is to transform your community to be self-reliant - to do that you have to be able to tell the collective story of how people are bringing about change in your community. To do that you need to develop real storytellers by teaching them how to tell stories-- and you have to imbue their stories with the added value of your brand. Create a "school" for the new literacy. Bring in the people as interns and volunteers. Bring in the young. Use your digital channels and the web as the "channel." Or, let MiND show you how; they are willing and capable guides. And, please, don’t get caught up in the validity of five-minute programs--not before watching MiND or considering the sheer number of unique five-minute programs that can be produced in a year.
• Gain strength and power by connecting. Connect to the institutions organizations in your community who need this kind of help - use your storytellers to give them a voice. How might non-profits be involved? How about schools (K-12 and higher education)? What if everyone really did have a voice--and what if that voice defined the future of public media? Imagine connecting with other stations across America and the world--perhaps create a national network with MiND at the core - and jointly build MiND as an initiative that engages people at the local, regional, national, even global level. It’s clear that MiND was built with precisely that strategy at its core. Increase the power of the collective story by comparing what’s happening in Philadelphia with what’s happening in Chicago or Denver, and ultimately, with Mumbai or Warsaw.
MiND benefits from a wonderful gift--it is one of the few truly independent agents within public media--in fact, the company’s official name is (you guessed it) Independence Media. From that independence has grown true innovation. Make no mistake--this is not a play by a tiny public TV station operating at the edge of reality. Instead, it is likely the center of a new solar system with increasingly powerful gravitational pull.
We will not get through the turbulence of our times by relying on the status quo in any part of our lives. So I do my bit to tell the story of Howard and his band of sisters and brothers at MiND.
Bless them all. And for my American friends, about to celebrate their annual holiday, do consider the value, opportunity and responsibilities associated with independence.
