Ethan Zuckerman: How Do We "Stumble Better"?

Ethan Zuckerman is cofounder of Global Voices Online and one of the most insightful thinkers around on issues concerning media (both new and old) and society. In a recent article, "The Attention Deficit: Plenty of Content, Yet an Absence of Interest," he looks at the "endangered species" known as foreign correspondents. Although local citizen journalism plays a vitally informative role, particularly during events such as the Haiti earthquake and the protests in Iran, he writes, "the scarce resource in the age of digital journalism is not high-quality content, but attention." In other words, in a media-saturated environment, how do we get Western audiences to notice or care about what's happening in, say, Madagascar or Malaysia?

He was in our office yesterday for a meeting of the Open Society Foundations U.S. Programs board, of which he is a member. I took the opportunity to speak with him about this question (see clip above).

What are your ideas on overcoming "attention deficit" when it comes to international news?