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<DIV></DIV>>From: parallax@riseup.net
<DIV></DIV>>To: imc-audio@lists.indymedia.org
<DIV></DIV>>Subject: [IMC-Audio] The Success of Independent Media
<DIV></DIV>>Date: Sat, 4 Jan 2003 14:42:17 -0800
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>Someone just sent me this. This is several months old at this point, but it's
<DIV></DIV>>still interesting...
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>"'Be Opinionated, Fair, And Accurate': The Success Of Independent Media"
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>by Danielle Chynoweth
<DIV></DIV>>urbanaimc@yahoo.com
<DIV></DIV>>Phone: 217-344-8820 (IMC)
<DIV></DIV>>Address: IMC, 218 W. Main St, Urbana, IL 61801
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>This is a transcript of a talk by Danielle Chynoweth, co-founder of the Urbana-
<DIV></DIV>>Champaign Independent Media Center, Oct 8, 2002 at the University YMCA.
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>Stories kill. Stories save lives. Every single person in this room is full of
<DIV></DIV>>stories. That is the simple thesis of my talk today.
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>As a global society, we are bloated by stories created by public relations
<DIV></DIV>>firms and corporate media. As a global society we are starving for each others
<DIV></DIV>>stories, but few of us share, because we don't see ourselves as story tellers.
<DIV></DIV>>We don't realize the power of sharing stories and absolute necessity of seeking
<DIV></DIV>>out other's stories.
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>We are a people who as a people, through our elected representatives, is about
<DIV></DIV>>to declare war on another people. Our self appointed leader tells us that their
<DIV></DIV>>self appointed leader has the capacity to
<DIV></DIV>>build weapons that could destroy us. We are told that that leader is connected
<DIV></DIV>>with a group that we are told is responsible for the killing of thousands of us
<DIV></DIV>>a year ago. The dominant story tellers which are almost entirely owned by less
<DIV></DIV>>than 10 massive corporations with budgets larger than most countries,
<DIV></DIV>>speak about United States military forces as "we." This is the story that
<DIV></DIV>>floods us every day - seeming like a diversity of voices, on different
<DIV></DIV>>channels, in different words - but the same story.
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>People in Iraq are also speaking, but where are their words? They also have a
<DIV></DIV>>story to tell, but we don't hear their story. They are saying "In the past 12
<DIV></DIV>>years, you have killed an entire quarter of our nation." They say "your country
<DIV></DIV>>calls chlorine a chemical weapon so we can't import it to clean our water.
<DIV></DIV>>Every month, 3000 of our children needlessly die for lack of clean water and
<DIV></DIV>>medicine because of the sanctions." They say "You bomb us to control our oil
<DIV></DIV>>which was nationalized to keep it out of your hands." They say "Your country
<DIV></DIV>>has bombed us continuously for 12 years and no one has argued in your Congress
<DIV></DIV>>about it. No one has called it war."
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>Who commands the microphone determines who lives and who dies.
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>Amy Goodman, hero journalist and host of Democracy Now, beseeches us to "go to
<DIV></DIV>>where the silence is." This is why I have committed myself to passing around
<DIV></DIV>>the microphone.
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>I was invited here to talk about independent media. But I don't really want to
<DIV></DIV>>use these words - media - journalism. They are fine words, but in our minds
<DIV></DIV>>they refer to someone else. Not most of you, or me. These words let us off the
<DIV></DIV>>hook - and when I say "us," I don't mean just you and me, I mean us as a
<DIV></DIV>>society. This one word "the media" - gives us an excuse to be cynical, to stop
<DIV></DIV>>reading, to chalk all news up to a bunch of lies. But as we, especially the
<DIV></DIV>>young amongst us - withdraw from all story telling out
<DIV></DIV>>of a sense of betrayal or indifference or a desire not to be duped, the
<DIV></DIV>>decisions are still made and the bombs still fall.
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>Well I am going to spend my time up here giving the best case I can for
<DIV></DIV>>thinking, asking questions, reading, writing, recording, and sharing. I know
<DIV></DIV>>that I am standing next to the biggest cheerleader
<DIV></DIV>>for reading and writing there is left in our society - the university. What I
<DIV></DIV>>want to add to or perhaps counteract about this message is the importance of
<DIV></DIV>>sharing - not waiting until you have your degree or know enough or have tenure,
<DIV></DIV>>not always insisting on objectivity, or distance, or jargon. My call is a call
<DIV></DIV>>for amateur hero journalists - you and me - that's what indymedia means to me.
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>I want to talk about independent media's agenda - yes, our critics are right -
<DIV></DIV>>we do have an agenda.
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>Norm Stockwell, the station manager for Madison's community radio station -
<DIV></DIV>>WORT - makes this distinction between corporate, public, and independent or
<DIV></DIV>>community media.
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>Corporate media exists to sell ads - if it bleeds it leads. News is something
<DIV></DIV>>taken off the wire about a rape and murder in a distant city that you are glad
<DIV></DIV>>didn't happen to you and about which you can do nothing. That's
<DIV></DIV>>news. "Corporate media has nothing to tell, only something to sell," as Amy
<DIV></DIV>>Goodman puts it.
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>Public radio and public TV believe that the more stuff you know, the better
<DIV></DIV>>person you will be. Kinda like Trivial Pursuit for the intelligencia. It helps
<DIV></DIV>>you appear knowledgeable.
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>Independent, community media provides its audience information on issues that
<DIV></DIV>>affects their lives then gives them the tools to make change. In fact, I would
<DIV></DIV>>call this an obligation of independent media. When we sit around our editorial
<DIV></DIV>>table discussing this week's stories, we ask ourselves "is this something
<DIV></DIV>>people can change? What are the levers of change. How can we report on the
<DIV></DIV>>levers as well." Our goal is to report on issues before they are decided in
<DIV></DIV>>ways that empower listeners to get involved in the
<DIV></DIV>>decisions.
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>This is the heart of the independent media movement. But let me flesh out
<DIV></DIV>>further elements that make this heart beat. And I am quoting from Keith
<DIV></DIV>>Rosendal, of KCSB in Santa Barbara. He says the role of the independent
<DIV></DIV>>journalist is "to provide real images of yourself and others, create programs
<DIV></DIV>>that promote cultural survival, build connections and understanding between
<DIV></DIV>>disparate groups, demystify how decisions are made, expose motivations, and
<DIV></DIV>>help people participate in the decisions that affect their
<DIV></DIV>>lives." In short, the agenda of independent media is building the foundations
<DIV></DIV>>for an expanding, sustainable democracy. It makes politics part of people's
<DIV></DIV>>lives, it doesn't just "pour water on debate."
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>This agenda butts up against the arguments for "objectivity." Independent
<DIV></DIV>>Media cracks open the ruse of objectivity and denies claims itself to
<DIV></DIV>>objectivity. "Objectivity is when you don't know what you're standing on," says
<DIV></DIV>>Frieda Werden, producer of Womens International News Gathering service.
<DIV></DIV>>Indymedia replaces objectivity - which is so often used as a smokescreen for
<DIV></DIV>>bias - with the values of fairness, honesty, accuracy, and opinion, to cite Amy
<DIV></DIV>>Goodman's media credo. Good journalism does not
<DIV></DIV>>claim objectivity, but is in hot pursuit of the "best available version of the
<DIV></DIV>>truth," to quote David Goodman, a Boston journalist. It is becoming a venue for
<DIV></DIV>>subjectivity that we become a venue for suppressed stories.
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>Now, I am going to describe how every single person in this room has the power
<DIV></DIV>>to be such a story teller, but first I want to do what I was invited here to
<DIV></DIV>>do - to describe the framework on indymedia.
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>First a little history - I could go far back, but there isn't time. I suggest
<DIV></DIV>>you go over to the post office, ask for the stamps called "Women Journalists"
<DIV></DIV>>and look up information on the four women represented on those stamps. Read
<DIV></DIV>>Mark Twain's media pieces. And George Orwell's essays. Learn about the power of
<DIV></DIV>>Ida Tarbell's pen. Find out about Pacifica Network News - created in the
<DIV></DIV>>twilight of the Cold War to be a voice of reason in the midst of warmongering -
<DIV></DIV>>and recently recaptured from an attempted coup by
<DIV></DIV>>corporate interests. Just in this country alone, there is a long history of
<DIV></DIV>>these "unacknowledged legislators" as my professor Christopher Hitchens calls
<DIV></DIV>>the rich and often forgotten lineage of investigative journalists, muckrakers,
<DIV></DIV>>and truth seekers.
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>With a little bit of context - understanding that the existence of independent
<DIV></DIV>>media superceded the World Trade Organization protests - and it much broader
<DIV></DIV>>that the specific IMC movement that surged into being in 1999, I want to give
<DIV></DIV>>some history of that specific movement. In November of 1999, there were massive
<DIV></DIV>>protests of the World Trade Organization where over 100,000 people marched in
<DIV></DIV>>the streets of Seattle in to protest an international organization powerful
<DIV></DIV>>enough to overturn local labor, environmental, and humanitarian laws in the
<DIV></DIV>>name of creating new markets for capital. Knowing full well that coverage of
<DIV></DIV>>this historic convergence of global justice activists would be butchered by a
<DIV></DIV>>threatened corporate
<DIV></DIV>>media, activists decided to organize their own telling of the protests. They
<DIV></DIV>>rented a temporary space, collectivized their personal equipment, built a
<DIV></DIV>>website, and opened their doors to anyone who walked into the makeshift store
<DIV></DIV>>to post a story, audio, photos, or video to the website. The Associated Press
<DIV></DIV>>stayed
<DIV></DIV>>with the permitted march. The Independent Media Center reporters were there at
<DIV></DIV>>6 AM with people locking down in the streets. The AP, arriving on the streets
<DIV></DIV>>after the police began to riot, said that the police gassed and beat us because
<DIV></DIV>>we were destroying property. The IMC reporters provided a stack
<DIV></DIV>>of evidence in every medium that the police started gassing at 9 AM and windows
<DIV></DIV>>were not broken until noon. The AP provided no context for the protest and
<DIV></DIV>>tried to dismiss us as terrorists. The IMC reporters
<DIV></DIV>>posted case study after case study of the devastation to the democratic process
<DIV></DIV>>inflicted by the actions of the WTO. As a result, the WTO became a hated
<DIV></DIV>>household name. That would have never happened if
<DIV></DIV>>the substance behind the protests was not reported on.
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>Since these protests, 82 IMCs in 35 countries have been formed. There are
<DIV></DIV>>Mexico, Chiapas, and Tijuana IMCs. There is IMC Jerusalem, IMC Israel, and IMC
<DIV></DIV>>Palestine. South Africa. Brisbane. Vermont.
<DIV></DIV>>Quebec City. Unlike our local IMC, most IMCs exist as websites without a
<DIV></DIV>>physical location. In places like China, the IMC can only exist in the virtual
<DIV></DIV>>realm. Its existence is illegal and therefore its site is
<DIV></DIV>>mirrored in other countries in case its server is confiscated.
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>An IMC web site has at least 3 components: a newswire where anyone can post
<DIV></DIV>>media, a features area with stories of local import chosen by a local editorial
<DIV></DIV>>group via a consensus process, and links to all other IMC's what is referred to
<DIV></DIV>>as the "global indymedia network." One of the goals of this network is to
<DIV></DIV>>provide local independent coverage of major events and protests. During the
<DIV></DIV>>recent World Summit on
<DIV></DIV>>Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, I was able to go to the South Africa
<DIV></DIV>>web site and read
<DIV></DIV>>hour by hour updates and commentary on both the summit and its opponents - the
<DIV></DIV>>40 thousand from groups such as the anti-Privatisation Forum, the Landless
<DIV></DIV>>People's Movement, and the Anti-Eviction Campaign whose existence was cited
<DIV></DIV>>marginally and whose concerns were unacknowledged in the mainstream press.
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>Our local IMC had its humble beginning as a group of 10 meeting weekly in my
<DIV></DIV>>living room starting September 24 in the year 2000. We decided to cover local
<DIV></DIV>>solidarity protests with the anti-International Monetary Fund and World Bank
<DIV></DIV>>protests in Praque. We decided that if we could find 10 "founding
<DIV></DIV>>funders" who would donate $50/month for 12 months, we would rent a space in
<DIV></DIV>>downtown. We found 25 such funders and an old printers shop - a storefront with
<DIV></DIV>>reasonable rent. We are located at 218 W. Main
<DIV></DIV>>Street in downtown Urbana, just west of Race Street. The UC-IMC, as we call
<DIV></DIV>>ourselves, has a website with an open publishing system like other IMCs. We
<DIV></DIV>>house a library of 500 books, 50 current periodicals, and 100 audio tapes, as
<DIV></DIV>>well as video tapes - all available for check out by members. We produce a
<DIV></DIV>>monthly newspaper with a run of 5000 called the public i and IMC Radio News, a
<DIV></DIV>>weekly public affairs show on WEFT 90.1 FM Mondays at 5:30 PM. The IMC has a
<DIV></DIV>>production room where members can check out media equipment and use computers
<DIV></DIV>>to produce media, a large room for music and theater performances, and a
<DIV></DIV>>gallery space recently named the "middle room gallery" re-opening with a show
<DIV></DIV>>later this month. Each of these activities is organized and sustained by
<DIV></DIV>>working groups. There working groups each send two representatives to a
<DIV></DIV>>steering group that coordinates between the group. We have meeting of our
<DIV></DIV>>entire membership twice a year to discuss large scale policy changes and future
<DIV></DIV>>directions. We recently decided to try to buy our building so as to build
<DIV></DIV>>equity in our space. All IMC groups operate by consensus.
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>In addition, we were the first IMC to gain 501c3 status. We are the fiscal
<DIV></DIV>>sponsors for a number of IMCs including the global indymedia network, and the
<DIV></DIV>>IMCs in NYC, DC, and Pittsburg. We support Palestine IMC, Nigeria IMC, and a
<DIV></DIV>>mobile caravan that travels around the world to report on major events and
<DIV></DIV>>protests. We recently received our first grant to hire a radio news
<DIV></DIV>>coordinator. We are taking applications over the next two weeks. Please talk to
<DIV></DIV>>me if you are interested in applying.
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>I am involved in the radio news production end of things at the IMC and want to
<DIV></DIV>>share a few observations from that perspective. One of the things our IMC does
<DIV></DIV>>is "carrier pigeon reporting." We find out who is traveling to a protest or
<DIV></DIV>>overseas and we train them and outfit them with a minidisc recorder and a
<DIV></DIV>>digital camera.
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>Much of IMC's success comes from everyday people realizing that in a vacuum of
<DIV></DIV>>diverse information, their eyes and ears are valuable. Tourism can be
<DIV></DIV>>transformed into valuable journalism with a few pieces of equipment. Personal
<DIV></DIV>>travel diaries are radical in that they are free from the standard corporate
<DIV></DIV>>agenda fare. The mainstream media, with their silence and refusal to pay for
<DIV></DIV>>investigative and on-the-ground reporting actually create quite an opportunity
<DIV></DIV>>for us to fill the silence.
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>When you travel to another country and come back with stories, it usually
<DIV></DIV>>doesn't occur to you to tape your dinner conversation and broadcast it. The
<DIV></DIV>>Indymedia movement has put a frame around that kind of storytelling and
<DIV></DIV>>said "this is important" "this has power."
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>Our local IMC has outfitted people traveling to Palestine, the FTAA protests in
<DIV></DIV>>Quebec, the anti-war rallies in D.C. this past April, World Social Forums in
<DIV></DIV>>Brasil, Guatemala, Mexico. If you are traveling oversees, call us and we
<DIV></DIV>>provide you equipment, training, and will get your stories on the air.
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>There is also much to report here locally. More and more, local news has global
<DIV></DIV>>import and visa versa. In our own backyards is the Caterpillar factory
<DIV></DIV>>producing the bulldozers rampaging Jenin right now. We joke that we are mired
<DIV></DIV>>in a corn field and yet let's look a that corn. We are actually mired in Pepsi.
<DIV></DIV>>Much of this corn is corn syrup. And we are in the heart of battle over
<DIV></DIV>>genetically modified organisms. Recently the News Gazette reported about how
<DIV></DIV>>our local corn is going overseas to fight malnutrition. The President of
<DIV></DIV>>Zimbabwe turned down a shipment of corn - most likely from here - because it
<DIV></DIV>>was genetically modified. Cancer rates in Champaign county are higher than
<DIV></DIV>>state and national averages. Now who is investigating the root of that?
<DIV></DIV>>Monsanto is just around the corner near St. Louis. They are directly
<DIV></DIV>>responsible for the firing and suppression of Fox journalists who did
<DIV></DIV>>investigative work on Bovine Growth Hormone - one of Monsanto's major products.
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>Have I peaked your interest? Well, I will leave you with a proposal. Consider
<DIV></DIV>>yourself an independent journalist. Just try on that hat for a week or two to
<DIV></DIV>>see how you filter your experiences differently. Do you notice things you could
<DIV></DIV>>share? Are there questions you've always had but never had an excuse to ask
<DIV></DIV>>them? I will tell you the best thing about this role. It is an excuse to talk
<DIV></DIV>>to anyone about anything. If you want to learn about Yoga, investigate it like
<DIV></DIV>>a story and then produce that story. If you want to understand what happens to
<DIV></DIV>>all the money that comes into town because of the Bears games, play the
<DIV></DIV>>reporter and put it in print. Come get press credentials from us if that helps
<DIV></DIV>>you feel more official. Becoming a citizen reporter is the key to lifelong
<DIV></DIV>>learning. If you read an interesting story in the paper and want to know more,
<DIV></DIV>>call up a contact from the story and ask her questions on tape. Get that tape
<DIV></DIV>>to the Radio group. That's why our motto is, "don't just hate the media, become
<DIV></DIV>>the media."
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>_______________________________________________
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