The RIAA and CARP want the Library of Congress to impose large
fees imposed on webcasters, this has been discussed on the various
shows on W0KIE and the net. Well now via one of the largest
Webcasters on the net WOLF FM there will be a 12 hour marathon to
talk about this issue and get the word out. Joined by the C-Band
Satellite Network W0KIE (GE7/AMC7-Ch.5-7.5 mHZ), the Dishnuts Audio
feeds and other net radio stations around the globe we hope to
really make some noise on this Day of Silence May 1st (Mayday).Programming will be live all day from 8am CT till 8pm CT OR
9am ET till 9pm ET Wednesday May 1st, 2002.Co-hosted by Steve Wolf of Wolf FM and W0KIE/RFD Host Blair Alper
of "Life The Universe and Everything" Show, they will talk
about the RIAA, Carp and how it will impact and shutdown webcasters
all over, they will have industry leaders on as well as take your
phone calls. Join us for this live special broadcast.If you are a webcaster or radio station you are allowed to carry
all or part, space is made at top of hour for IDs and 2 min breaks
at :15 and :45 pass the hour.
Although I don't think article isn't openly hostile to Indymedia, what John sees is that "selective quotes and the not-so-subtle condescending tone spoke volumes about where the author, David Montgomery, is coming from. I don't think I've seen such a stinky piece o'journalism since CNN did a 'Indymedia replacing us? yeah, right' kind of piece during the A16 activity" last year. In a second e-mail John explains that he might be a little sensitive since he used to be a mainstream journalist for a commercial radio network, and so now he says that "I relish the critic's role now that I've left the fold, so to speak. I do have to admit that I'm gunning for them, ready to pounce when I see the snarkiness come to the surface in large amounts."
But beyond just the tone that the mainstream media takes when reporting on Indymedia, what worries John is that Indymedia journalists themselves are often surprisingly uncritical of such articles. He elborates that "It's kind of a cart-before-the-horse situation, in a sense - many of us realize the "wrongness" in the corporate media, and jump right to the citizen-journalist role without doing enough to keep developing our own media literacy/critical thinking skills. I think that we should not only tell our stories in the light we want to see them in, but we should also continually confront and critique what comes out of the corporate media as well - and teach others the abilities we often take for granted. I guess I see IMCs as having a dual role: supplementing the coverage of unreported and under-reported stories while also spotting the bullshit of the corporate media and calling them on it, explaining how and why it is bullshit."
But don't take my selective quotes for it -- John gave me permission to let you read our exchange yourself.
I can't say how much I appreciate and enjoy getting feedback and having some dialogue. So, if something I write is stinky, or demands response, please let me know.
The book that instantly made me go "gotta have it," is Tape Op; The Book About Creative Music Recording, edited by Larry Crane, which is chock full of interesting techniques for the DIY and low-budget/no-budget sound recordist. Apparently it's compiled from Tape Op magazine, which I'd never heard of, but will now have to keep a lookout for. I've read a couple of short pieces about microphones and using a 4-track recorder that give no-nonsense advice without recommending you spend thousands on super-pro equipment.
Next, I picked up Michael Albert's Moving Forward; Program for a Participatory Economy. I've always been intrigued by Albert's ideas on how organizations should run themselves as they would like to see the world run (i.e. democratically) and his writings in Z Magazine, and since this looks like an attempt to put his ideas into practice I thought it might be a good read.
In the 'zine mix my partner Ellen and I picked out applicant, edited by Jesse Reklaw. Here's the project:
"One night while rooting through the recycling bin for magazines, I found all the confidential Ph.D. applicant files for th biology department at an Ivy League university from the yeard 1965-1975. Stapled to many of the yellowed documents were photographs of the prospective students. They were treasures! I tore through the folders and rescued every portrait I could find. I had to have them. Only later did I realize I had to publish them"And publish he did, with this digest-sized 'zine made up entirely of the pictures subtitled with comments from their letters of recommendation. Truly priceless stuff.
Ellen also bought copies of Found magazine and Clamor magazine, the folks behind the latter are also behind the Underground Publishing Conference. Her book purchase was How to Rock and Roll; A City Rider's Repair Manual, for bikes. Another truly DIY book that doesn't urge you to buy hundreds of dollars in specialized tools to keep your bike running.
I should have the last few shows encoded and available this evening...
headlines for 4-12-02
headlines for 4-19-02
Note that this is reported in the guise of business and industry news and not the national or politics news section of a prominent newspaper. The underlying assumption is that this isn't important to anyone besides businesspeople.
"And yet the IMC utopia is confronting some universal verities of storytelling dating back at least to Homer. The indie chroniclers haven't invented any newways of telling stories yet. Most of their pieces adopt forms already much used by the mainstream media, albeit with different content. But in the end, crafting content requires selection, shortening, simplification and even a mildly authoritarian editorial brain making decisions -- all of which indie media makers resist."
It appears that the mainstream press can't or won't understand the deficiencies of this approach, or why people would want something different, even if it appears less definitive.Indymedia is interested in creating no such illusions of authority or compreshensiveness. Indymedia challenges the reader to think, "is this bullshit?" And, if so, challenges her to respond directly to the item in question, or, even better, create her own piece that responds to, expands on or explicates the first.
The mainstream journalism approach is a lecture. Indymedia is a dialogue.
When you respond to the Washington Post your letter goes on a page designated for the purpose, divorced and decontextualized from the piece you're responding to. If your reader missed the first article, she's only getting the second half of the story. When you respond to an Indymedia article on-line it's attached to the piece itself, no matter how scathing or complimentary the response. No credentials necessary.
I mention Moore's visit here because I think he serves as a good example of how DIY-media might be done. While now he certainly plays in the arena of corporate media -- he relies in them to publish his books, distribute his films and broadcast his TV shows -- he still carries that DIY ethic with him in those endeavors. His first film, Roger and Me, was certainly not a studio venture (even if it did eventually get studio distribution). His advice to the audience -- mostly college students -- was to be active and stick by your guns, telling us "I don't give a shit, I never have."
It's not that he doesn't give a shit about anything at all. It's that he hasn't given a shit about other people's expectations of him and what he does, which has helped him succeed at doing things his way. I think that's a crucial thing to keep in mind when doing your media. The opinions and advice of other people whom you trust can be useful and helpful in finding your way, but they shouldn't take the place of your own ideas and path. The opinions of people you don't like and/or don't trust should just be ignored, because you can be damn sure they don't give a shit about you.
A short video excerpt from Moore's talk is up at the Urbana IMC site. There's also a short article. I understand that more audio is forthcoming.
"empowering citizens by immersing them in a common news culture. In the industrial newspapers, readers made news their own, becoming better citizens and, in the bargain, more loyal customers – something the newspaper needs desperately today."
I do think I agree with Douglas' overall objective, which is to encourage resolving conflicts and to get Pacifica back on track as a leading voice of progressive radio and, especially, progressive journalism. But I'm not so sure I agree with many of her assumptions. It seems, for example, that she doubts the new Pacifica management's commitment to progressive journalism based upon the example of one program at KPFK ("a show called Visionary Activist hosted by an astrologist whose guests include 'planets, gods and, on occasion, dead people'? "), which it seems she hasn't even heard, because by her own admission she's in Michigan, "stuck with Britney Spears and "Satellite Sisters" and no Pacifica station or affiliate." Strangely, she makes no mention of Democracy Now, which is Pacifica's popular and consistently challenging, if somewhat humorless, daily progressive news hour.
In a response being circulated, Edward Herman, progressive economist and co-author of Manufacturing Consent, takes her to task for this and countless other errors in fact and interpretation that he finds in her article. I agree most strongly with Herman's criticism of Douglas' omission of Democracy Now and the fact that the excellent Free Speech Radio News is being carried by Pacifica stations and affiliates in place of the cancelled Pacifica Network News. Journalism is much more alive and well at Pacifica and its stations now than it was eight months ago.
However, Herman's take-no-prisoners approach in responding does clearly exemplify the tense battle that Douglas finds counterproductive. I find it hard to disagree that there needs to be resolution and some degree of compromise for the network to move forward, regain some of its former strength, and grow in new directions. I'm not criticizing Herman and others in the former dissident camp -- they have very good reasons for feeling and reacting the way they do -- and since the Nation does reach so many progressives I understand the importance of needing to correct as many perceived errors as possible. Still, writers and readers of the Nation will make far better allies than enemies. It seems like Pacifica might be in need of something like a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to try and pick up the pieces that still lie on the floor.
Recently in mediageek:
LA Weekly Socks It to KPFK and Pacifica; I'm Left Wincing 3/27/02
on an earlier mediageek:
Radio Consolidation --> Radio Corruption 3/8/02
"When the Israeli tanks rolled into Bethlehem, the only organisation left behind to report was a fledgling DIY news website. But that was enough."
The article shows how IMCs work, along with how important it is to connect the world with the people living, breathing and dying in the streets. Not the government, not spokesmen, but the people.
Q: Why do you think liberal voices are so rare on television?
A: Conservatives criticize government and liberals criticize business. And that is not something that media conglomerates are altogether welcoming to.
The feature of the program is an interview with Skidmark Bob of Freak Radio Santa Cruz, discussing the occasion of that station's seven-year anniversary -- one that few pirate stations reach.
Listen to part 1 in RealAudio (5 min)
Listen to part 2 in RealAudio (8 min)
For his part Carl has been dissecting the mainstream news with a big Chomsky bent for years on his WEFT program News from Neptune, along with co-host Paul Meuth. I suspect that the two of them are responsible for exposing thousands to a critical viewpoint of the media informed by the analytical framework introduced by Chomsky and Herman in Manufacturing Consent.
OK, enough horn tootin'...
mp3 is NOT a crime.org is a relatively new blog that promises to be "Your source for DMCA/SSSCA/RIAA/MPAA news on fair use rights for your digital music and movies." So far it looks to be a pretty good resource.
(both links via the excellent infoanarchy)
Food Geek #4 and The Assassin and the Whiner: Send $1 plus stamps to Carrie McNinch, PO Box 481051, Los Angeles, CA 90048
The Hungover Gourment, send $2 to P.O. Box 5531, Lutherville, MD 21095-5531
Hyperventilate #10, Lisa McKinley, 4616 Greenwood Place #1, Los Angeles, CA 90027
When sending for 'zines it's best to send well concealed cash and some stamps to help with postage.
"While there has been a lot of debate about whether web content should be free or paid or sponsored by advertising, I think an important point has largely been overlooked -- and that is that an environment where the majority of content is free or sponsored by advertisers ultimately favors corporate-created content.... So the ultimate irony is this: while the Web has huge potential to distribute off-beat, unconventional, non-common-denominator media that traditional corporate media channels will never touch (i.e., the kind of content often favored by people who believe that web content should be free and corporate media sucks), it won't really be effective at doing that unless viewers/readers/users support that content in a direct financial way. "
And so, Beato is correct. If there is going to be an independent web (or any independent media for that matter) it will need to be funded by people who support that enterprise, otherwise it will have to be corporate and it will cease to be independent. Community radio stations have known this for over 50 years, which is why listeners must endure semiannual fund drives, and why these stations overwhelmingly rely on volunteers, too. It's time for more of the Internet generation to wake up to this realization, too.
Previously on der mediageek:
The Web Is Still a Volunteer Medium; Web Independents Suck and Feed on Ice 6/8/01
"I've just come from the federal courthouse in San Jose, where government prosecutors essentially admitted that the Digital Millennium Copyright Act bans meaningful "fair use" rights for digitally produced content. You can thank Congress for this travesty."
In TV the NAB primarily represents smaller owner groups -- networks like FOX have left the trade association over the very issue of ownership caps. Those smaller owners stand to be crushed by the big networks, which would prefer to own stations rather than simply have independent affiliates who aren't under their direct control. Thus, in this case, it's clearer why the NAB would want to retain limits that stand in the way of more consolidation in the TV station market. But do note that with big bullies like Clear Channel Communications still part of the NAB, we'll be far less likely to see them advocating for retaining caps on radio station ownership -- even if the principle is the same. In the world of commercial broadcasting, you stand on principle only when it stands for your side of things. You're not a hypocrite if you can explain it away (especially to shareholders).
I am occasionally asked how I keep up on all the myriad media issues and how much time it takes me. In truth it's about an hour a day of e-mail, web surfing and periodcal reading, on average. When I get a moment I intend to reveal these patented daily research strategies, which really only amount to a list of resources, annotated as to their relatively usefulness. My hope is that even more folks start websites and weblogs on issues of importance to them, as a shared edited research resource. Because, let me tell you, links and articles and news are all too plentiful, it's in the selecting, grouping, contextualizing and elaborating that we really get a good picture of things.