It all started when I came across a random link, originally posted on Twitter by the Official Twitter account of the World Economic Forum. The post led me to a new ‘Internet Manifesto‘ on ‘how journalism works today‘ and to a new story for Huffington Post where I posted the first five declarations for discussion.

Truth be told, as a journalist, I’m tired of seeing the usual suspects discuss what is best for all of us. I applaud @Davos and the World Economic Forum for bringing this Internet Manifesto to a wider audience. Now it’s up to all of us to define the type of future we’d like to co-create using the internet and so I give you the next 5 original declarations from the new Internet Manifesto, translated from German by Jenna L. Brinning and reproduced below for your review and comment. (The first five were posted here.)

The Internet changes improves journalism.

Through the Internet, journalism can fulfill its social-educational role in a new way. This includes presenting information as an ever-changing, continual process; the forfeiture of print media’s inalterability is a benefit. Those who want to survive in this new world of information need a new idealism, new journalistic ideas and a sense of pleasure in exploiting this new potential.

The net requires networking.

Links are connections. We know each other through links. Those who do not use them exclude themselves from social discourse. This also holds for the websites of traditional media companies.

Links reward, citations adorn.

Search engines and aggregators facilitate quality journalism: they boost the findability of outstanding content over a long-term basis and are thus an integral part of the new, networked public sphere. References through links and citations—especially including those made without any consent or even remuneration of the originator—make the very culture of networked social discourse possible in the first place. They are by all means worthy of protection.

The Internet is the new venue for political discourse.

Democracy thrives on participation and freedom of information. Transferring the political discussion from traditional media to the Internet and expanding on this discussion by involving the active participation of the public is one of journalism’s new tasks.

Today’s freedom of the press means freedom of opinion.

Article 5 of the German Constitution does not comprise protective rights for professions or technically traditional business models. The Internet overrides the technological boundaries between the amateur and professional. This is why the privilege of freedom of the press must hold for anyone who can contribute to the fulfillment of journalistic duties. Qualitatively speaking, no differentiation should be made between paid and unpaid journalism, but rather, between good and poor journalism.

Now some of you may read all 17 declarations from the Internet Manifesto just to find out why the German constitution is mentioned (the authors of the manifesto are German) or you might wait for my next post but more to the point, what is a manifesto anyway? According to Wikipedia:

“A manifesto is a public declaration of principles and intentions, often political in nature.”

Just above the wikipedia page, a note that puts the declarations below and the intention of this post into perspective: ‘The examples in this article may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please improve this article and discuss the issue‘. Yes, please..

Author, Juliette Powell

Juliette Powell is an author, entrepreneur and integrated media specialist. Her first book 33 Million People in the Room (Financial Times Press, 2009) builds on her work as co-founder and COO of the Gathering Think Tank Inc., an innovation forum at the intersection of integrated media, business, innovation and technology. A popular keynote speaker and commentator, connect with Juliette directly at juliettepowell.com, twitter and Facebook.