At the 2009 Games for Change Festival, New York Times Op-Ed Columnist Nicholas Kristof delivered a surprising keynote address saying that online games can be a powerful reporting platform for educating people about global issues such as the environment, poverty and human rights.

His epiphany came during a chance encounter with online game, “Darfur is Dying“,which was created through a partnership with MTVu, Reebok Human Rights Foundation and the International Crisis Group to educate people about the genocide in the African nation of Darfur. The game is a simulation in which players negotiate forces that threaten their refugee camp to give players a glimpse of what being in Darfur is really like.

Kristof believes games like this can be an effective way to inform and emotionally connect people with some of the most important issues facing our world and empower change. As a journalist, he admits he would love it if people were empowered by reading his Pulitzer prize-winning columns on global issues. However, he recognizes that today’s consumer is often hard-pressed to read an entire newspaper article and believes viral, online games such as Darfur is Dying can be a viable substitute for raising social awareness.

In fact, he plans to create an online game to accompany his upcoming book, “Half the Sky” which examines the oppression of women in third-world countries. He hopes the social networking game will “help convert this awareness into a global movement to turn oppression into opportunity for women and girls throughout the developing world.”

“Darfur is Dying” may be the most visible online game dedicated to social change, but Games for Change is an organization dedicated leveraging the power of video games to “address the most pressing issues of our day, including poverty, human rights, global conflict and climate change.” The organization’s Web site boasts a variety of different games that educate consumers on issues surrounding public policy, economics, public health, global conflict and politics.

It certainly is an interesting time in both PR and journalism as the media landscape continues to shift. While Nicholas Kristof may be an unlikely advocate for alternative reporting platforms, his acknowledgment that new mediums such as online games are viable vehicles for the next-generation of journalism is further evidence that we’re only just beginning to see what that landscape will potentially look like. It’s still too early to tell, but in the meantime PR professionals, journalists and organizations alike will continue to try and understand how to leverage new mediums in meaningful ways.