MediaStorm founder Brian Storm inspires more than noise

by Cathy Freeman

If ever there were someone who really “gets” journalism, it is Brian Storm, founder and president of multimedia production company MediaStorm.

I had the pleasure of hearing Storm speak this week at my beloved alma mater, UNC-Chapel Hill. Once again entering the double doors at Carroll Hall felt simultaneously foreign and familiar. I sat in my old lecture hall and remembered a younger version of myself who furiously scribbled notes without really “getting” journalism.

MediaStorm is guided by four main principles. First and foremost, everything is produced across multiple platforms. We’re living in a mobile world and our content needs to be available in a convenient carry-along size. Second, it is a project-specific, rather than producer-specific multimedia agency. It is an interactive production studio. And lastly, it is a training ground for journalists to relearn the tools of message delivery.

Storm has such an exact way of expressing the internal flaw of journalism today. “We stopped answering to the audience and started answering to the shareholders,” he said. “We broke journalism. The model that has financed journalism for a long time is broken.”

This is a harsh reality for anyone who spent countless days in a lecture hall or behind a news desk. News is changing now in a forever kind of way and we're all trying to figure out how we're going to more than just keep up. We're trying to create a new standard for journalism that encourages truth-seeking and public participation.

In 2005, Storm launched Media Storm and started publishing “diverse narratives that speak to the heart of the human condition.” Bottom line: the status quo journalist hasn't been doing his job.

And who is stepping into his place? It's Joe Journalist — your next door neighbor, best friend or son's fifth grade teacher. Storm named citizen participation as one of the most important tools for journalists today. “The new front page is not The New York Times. It’s your Facebook feed.” Storm said. “It is a paramount shift that has happened to journalism.”

MediaStorm engages in several different online networking platforms including Myspace, Vimeo, Ning, Meta Cafe, Facebook and Twitter. Storm said, "I can't believe what this tool has meant, how it has changed the way we work. It's no longer the big media companies who control distribution. We all can now."

This new social power is captivating the media world. It's demanding better journalism, more engaging stories, more powerful connections. "The stuff in the middle that is just cranking out product — that is just noise," said Storm.