Written by David Brewer

A highly-organised, vocal and educated middle media is positioning to be the newsgatherers and news disseminators of the future. In some areas they are taking over the role of offering issue-led journalism from traditional, mainstream media who have failed to respond to the challenge.

It started with one short text message about a planned media event in Kiev.

Within three hours 24 people had registered. By the end of the day 80 had signed up, and three days later 250 had applied.

With no other publicity, a group of highly-articulate professionals gathered for an event that could change how news is gathered and disseminated in Ukraine, and perhaps beyond.

The invite was sent out by MediaNext Ukraine in the form of a tweet (a short text message using the Twitter web/sms platform).

That tweet was picked up by a number of prominent bloggers and social networkers and forwarded to their followers (or retweeted in the case of Twitter). It was also discussed on Facebook.

There was no need for conventional publicity; viral marketing had taken over and all that was required was to respond to the flood of registrations.

Vitaliy Moroz, Head of New Media at Internews Ukraine had planned the event some months earlier, but  a swine flu scare meant that he was unable to proceed.

When that scare lifted, unexpectedly, Moroz had three working days to organise what would have normally taken a month to set up.

Agents of change

The massive positive for Moroz and his team at MediaNext was that those who responded matched exactly the profile of the target audience - connected, technically-savvy, young professionals, who were waiting for an opportunity to gather and learn from one another.

MediaNext is a joint initiative involving Internews Ukraine and the European Journalism Centre. The aim is to enable those with something to say to say it.  Moroz says the goal is to empower individuals with the tools needed to communicate.

"We are creating a community of media innovators and sharing technological and editorial skills," he said.

Moroz describes the group the project is bringing together as Ukraine's "agents of change".

The emergence of "Middle Media"

The result is the emergence of a  powerful blogging/journalist/professional community which is beginning to occupy a settled middle ground between traditional, mainstream media and the information overload of a highly-active social network community.

This group - let's call it Middle Media - has a great deal to say, and what they want to articulate is not trivial or flippant, it is focused and direct.

Middle Media, based on what I witnessed in Ukraine, is populated by increasingly vocal professionals from all walks of life who, it seems, share a common interest to inform the public debate with stimulating and well-researched material.

The group MediaNext brought together in Kiev included journalists, public relations professionals, technologists, sociologists, media activists, human rights workers, representatives from NGOs, academics and artists.

At the two events where I was speaking, the mood was open-minded, receptive, extremely positive and energetic.

Some of those I was addressing were tweeting as I spoke using the hashtag #bkyiv, updating their network of colleagues who were unable to make the event. More than 100 tweets were sent during the two hour event.

MediaNext was also streaming on Ustream in order to reach those who had missed out on registration.

All had paid to register, covered their own transport and accommodation costs, and in the case of one of the country's most prominent bloggers, travelled five hours overnight by bus to attend - a level of dedication and sacrifice that shows the commitment of those taking part and bodes well for the future of new media in Ukraine.

With three new media schools planned in the next six months, the momentum is growing and Ukraine's middle media is beginning to find an identity.

I saw a similar thing happening a month earlier at the Azerbaijan Media Centre. Highly-aware and socially-active bloggers, representing a new media presence, grouping in a place between traditional, mainstream media and the information overload of social networking.

Middle media has emerged and is growing in strength. Traditional, mainstream media must take note and respond or risk being sidelined.

Join the Media Helping Media Facebook group discussion on this.