Red Pill/Blue Pill, Green Pill/True Pill – Creating a Media Commons with Debs Grayson of Opus Independents

Our legacy - or status quo - media is owned and run by billionaires for billionaires and the stories they promote are the ones that will keep us all in line. How do we shift the global narrative towards a future of mutual flourishing? It is axiomatic of this podcast that stories – the good and the bad – are what got us to where we are. We are a storied species. Everything we do arises from the stories we tell ourselves and each other about ourselves, each other and our relationship with the communities of place, purpose and passion around us. Often, we're seeking respect and the pride of knowing we've contributed to the things we care about.  But many of us are living in media echo chambers which have no connection to the other bubbles around us. So how do we bridge the gaps? How do we created a media eco-system, a commons, that works for the people by the people, growing stories of agency and empowerment, motivation and direction in, by and from our communities? This week's guest, Debs Grayson, is a facilitator, researcher and organiser living in Sheffield. She works for Opus Independents, where she spends most of her time developing relatable, accessible metrics to track progress towards the Sheffield City Goals, and also on the People's Newsroom Initiative (PNI). PNI is a project housed within Opus broadly focused on journalism innovation, and our recent work has been reimagining journalism as 'storytelling commoning' - collective practices of sharing and weaving together stories that can support a just climate transition. With a background in media research and campaigning for a transformed media system, she previously worked for the Media Reform Coalition running the 'BBC and Beyond' campaign, which also developed ideas of a 'media commons'. Alongside her role at Opus, she is currently working with the independent press regulator IMPRESS on various projects, including presenting Dis/Mis, a podcast on dis- and mis-information and how we build a trustworthy media.  Opus: The People's Newsroom https://www.weareopus.org/the-peoples-newsroom Elinor Ostrom 8 Rules for Managing a Commons https://earthbound.report/2018/01/15/elinor-ostroms-8-rules-for-managing-the-commons/ Hastings Commons https://hastingscommons.com/ Amam Cymru https://www.amam.cymru/ Amam Cyrmu post on the People's Newsroom https://amam.cymru/the-peoples-newsroom/what-is-a-storytelling-commons-and-why-is-it-so-hard-to-talk-about Dis/Mis podcast https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/dis-mis-exploring-misinformation-in-modern-media/id1775649531 Accidental Gods Gatherings https://accidentalgods.life/gatherings-2025/ Accidental Gods Membership https://accidentalgods.life/join-us/