The Digital Media Project: Bringing Together Past and Present Through Digital Media By Wayne Schutsky I consider

myself an old-school writer in a new-school world. But that does not mean I think digital media is a plague on society or classic journalism values. Rather, I view the digital world as tool that can help revive certain aspects of journalism that have fallen by the wayside. The digital world opens up the profession to many people that may have had a hard time gaining access to the prestigious club that arose in the late 20th century. I believe that digital journalism is egalitarian. My project is really a mission, or a quest to return to a time when a journalist was a person with a passion for the truth and storytelling and not someone who happened to have the right degree. Additionally, I am striving, through the digital realm, to introduce an old-school ethic back into the profession that does not necessarily draw lines between specific mediums. Traditional news stories, fiction pieces, essays, and other forms of the written word can all function as news reporting. Ernest Hemingway, Harper Lee, Flannery O'Connor, Upton Sinclair and Mark Twain all showed how blurry the line between traditional media and other mediums could, and should, be. I am not advocating a less truthful press. I am advocating a press that allows the use of multiple genres as writers strive to bring truth to the masses. My project is not a simple or concrete plan that I can stuff into a PowerPoint presentation. It is a job. And, thus far, my project has manifested itself in the online magazine Modern Times Magazine in Mesa, Arizona. At this magazine, I have worked with my editor, John Guzzon, to bring the news to the Arizona and online community through a variety of mediums. I have used traditional reporting methods to cover the Occupy Phoenix Movement. Additionally, I have written essays, short stories and editorials as a way of communicating more abstract ideas and truths to our readership. I do this all through digital media. Without digital journalism, this project would not exist because, quite simply, the digital world is cheaper and more accepting than the print and broadcast world. I can take risks that would seem unacceptable in the old media platforms. And I can have a conversation with the audience. Instead of writing at the people, I can talk to them and hear what they think about the news I am delivering. Whether through Facebook, Twitter, or the comment section, I am in direct contact with the people who read my stories. I will provide a link to the page listing all of my stories and articles with Modern Times Magazine, so you can view the range and breadth of my work.