In another popular session from the 2009 Media 140 conference about the impact of social media sites on journalism, panelists considered an event that highlighted the growing power of social media to shape the news: the pro-democracy uprising in Iran.
Bio
Mark Colvin
The presenter of ABC Radio's current affairs program PM, Mark Colvin is an award-winning journalist.
Colvin first joined ABC radio news as a cadet after graduating from Oxford University with a B.A (Hons) in English.
Paul Cutler
Paul Cutler is the director of news and current affairs at SBS.
Previously, he was Managing Editor Asia Pacific at CNN and also Managing Editor at Television New Zealand.
Fran Kelly
Respected radio presenter, current affairs journalist and political correspondent, Fran Kelly hosts ABC Radio National's agenda-setting Breakfast program.
Tony Maniaty
Tony Maniaty has had a long and distinguished career in journalism, starting at the ABC. He has been a Foreign Correspondent for the ABC, a Diplomatic Correspondent for Radio Australia, European Correspondent for SBS's Dateline, Executive Producer of The 7.30 Report and Senior Advisor, Policy and Program Development, for ABC News and Current Affairs.
He received a Master of Arts for his research into television coverage of warfare from Vietnam to Iraq. He is a former director of the Australian Centre of Independent Journalism. He has published a memoir as well as two novels, one of which was short-listed for the Miles Franklin Award. From 1993 - 2008 he was book reviewer for The Australian newspaper.
He has been awarded Australia Council Fellowships, the Martin Bequest for Literature, the New South Wales Premier's Writers Award and the National Short Story of the Year Award. He has taught Journalism at the Danish School of Journalism and currently teaches at the University of Technology, Sydney.
Riyaad Minty
Riyaad Minty grew up in Johannesburg, South Africa. At the age of 19, he when he founded his first mobile technology company. During its first year, the company brokered deals with various blue chip companies from every continent.
In 2006 Minty joined the Al Jazeera Network, where he currently works as part of the New Media team, specialising in mobile and social media.
He values a strong sense of community and is regularly asked to present workshops in his home country, South Africa.
Jason Wilson
Jason Wilson is a Lecturer in Digital Communications.
His research interests included digital game cultures, citizen journalism and the online public sphere, mobile media and new media history.
He has previously held academic appointments at the University of Bedfordshire (UK) and in the Creative Industries Faculty at Queensland University of Technology.
Along with his record as a researcher, Wilson has experience as a new media practitioner. He was the project manager and chief editor of YouDecide2007, a citizen journalism service run during the 2007 Federal Election. He was also E-Democracy Director at online campaigning organisation GetUp!, where he project-managed the Project Democracy service.
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