Parallel Media

The Pacific Northwest is home to many different alternative media groups who represent their communities and challenge the dominant commercial messages.These regions are quite a distance from the major population centers of their respective states, and from established media outlets. The community supports a large, progressive, activist community. Groups that represent a diverse range of interests and priorities, but share a common vision to empower people, foster social justice, protect wildlife environments, and work to create sustainable communities.

The Current State of Rogue Valley Media

As in so many small markets, a New York Corporation owns the two local newspapers.  A single family except when it is owned by a major church or National Corporation owns much of the Radio.  RVTV public access television is one of the few places where community members can speak at length about issues that concern them.  There are a couple of local talks radio shows but local access is somewhat limited by the demand on so little for so many.

The City of Ashland, well-known for its technological prowess, helped to spearhead this municipal revolution by offering a user-friendly Web site complete with almost every tool one would need for keeping abreast of the city’s public business.

What is Independent Media?

“If once (the People) become inattentive to the public affairs… I, and Congress, and Assemblies, Judges and Governors shall all become wolves.” - Thomas Jefferson

Independent Media represents more than an alternative to the profit-based, corporate controlled mainstream media. Independent media is more than NPR or “Democracy Now”, more than Cable Access TV or the local alternative publications. The independent media revolution represents a grass-roots struggle of the people to reclaim power and transfer control over their community assets back to their community. Independent media is not for passive consumption, it encourages action.

This country was built on a tradition of a strong, citizen-based media. From the historic legacy of the colonial press and pre-revolutionary pamphleteers, a free and independent media has stood as the guardian of liberty. As a nation, we identify free speech and a free press as our first right, guaranteed by law. The press provides the sword by which the common man defends against tyranny. It is the vehicle for ordinary citizens to influence their world. An informed electorate, combined with a free press, enables citizens to act as the 4th branch of government. The press is a watchdog, keeping corruption and abuse of power in check, a muckraker, exposing injustice, challenging the status-quo and encouraging community action and a crusader, slaying the dragons that threaten our freedom. Media is power and controlling the media controls access to that power.

We are now a nation under a media siege. For decades, media assets have been consolidated into fewer and fewer hands. Local TV and radio programming replaced by pre-programmed info-tainment. Now, mainstream media is in the firm control of a handful of multinational corporations whose primary interest is maximizing economic profit above all else. Community access to the media has been stolen, replaced by the corporate noise machine. A free, independent press has been sold out … the media’s duty to community was replaced by the corporate loyalty to stock-holders.

On cable news and online, there is a tendency toward a jumbled, chaotic, partial quality in some reports, without much synthesis or even the ordering of the information. There is also a great deal of effort, particularly on cable news, that is put into delivering essentially the same news repetitively without any meaningful updating.

The result is that community relevant media is replaced by homogenized and sterilized content, aimed to entertain, not to inform and not to challenge or encourage anything beyond consumer consumption. Even the “liberal media” is unable to escape the influence of oligarchs. Most sectors of the media are cutting back in the newsroom, both in terms of staff and in the time they have to gather and report the news. Long-term journalistic traditions traded for short-term profits. Investigation and reporting is replaced by the wide-spread dissemination of packaged “news”, created in PR departments and spoon fed to stations and media outlets. The watchdog of the people is now a lap-dog, eager to please the master.

“News is what someone wants to suppress.
Everything else is advertising.”
~ Rubin Frank former news pres. NBC

Propaganda as new

“Those who would manipulate the press and public appear to be gaining leverage over the journalists who cover them.”

These “news packages” are called VNRs — video news releases — and they’ve been used for some time by corporations. Our government simply follows the corporate lead, spoon feeding “news” to TV stations, who don’t bother identifying the source of these packaged stories.

Identifying Trends and Facing Challenges

News will be delivered in ways radically different from today. A shift from large major commercial corporate players to smaller independent and more dynamic competitors capable of bringing to market more flexible, effective, usable and lower cost solutions.

Much of the new investment in journalism today – much of the information revolution generally – is in disseminating the news, not in collecting it. Most sectors of the media are cutting back in the newsroom, both in terms of staff and in the time they have to gather and report the news. While there are exceptions, in general journalists face real pressures trying to maintain quality.

The Future of the Newspaper

Newspaper companies will continue to diversify their holdings by moving into other media.

Multimedia News – The content of the newspaper combined with the content of a network news program and delivered at the viewer’s convenience in multimedia form. Text, photographs, graphics and charts combined with voice and video. Through fiber optic cable, an array of in-depth news can be made available to the subscriber.

Many major daily newspapers will likely either begin broadcast news television channel, or merge their operations with a broadcast news or radio station or both to form a single news outlet.

The Los Angeles Times launched a Sunday cable television show last year, and New York Newsday started a cable news channel on Long Island a few years earlier. It is conceivable that The New York Times, with its established news gathering network and advertiser base, will start a national or international cable television news station similar to the Cable News Network, especially if one of the three major networks folds its news operation, opening a niche for another major broadcast news network.

Electronic newspapers do not appear to pose a threat to traditional newspapers. One of the great strengths of newspapers, and a reason they have been around so long, is that they can be used just about anywhere. They’re portable. Another great strength of traditional newspapers is their price. Regardless of how high-tech or easy to use electronic newspapers become, they will never supplant traditional newspapers. Although electronic newspapers may not appeal to a mass audience, it is a powerful tool for reaching niche markets.

The Mass Media Rebellion

“If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, it expects what never was and never will be…The People cannot be safe without information. When the press is free, and every man is able to read, all is safe.” - Thomas Jefferson

Small and alternative independent news and information web sites have become important points of reference for those needing to stay abreast of the latest news and trends in their field of interest.

According to an Associated Press report: “People are turning increasingly to alternatives like the Internet for news about the presidential campaign… Young adults were leading the shift, with one-fifth saying that they consider the Internet a top source of campaign news, according to the poll by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press… “Nightly network news was cited as a regular source of campaign news by 35 percent, down from 45 percent four years ago, and newspapers by 31 percent, down from 40 percent.”

An informed citizenry is a cornerstone of democracy, and an informed citizenry depends on unrestrained press.

Society has been numbed by media exposure overload. Most people are not able to manage, organize and prioritize all the information coming at them.

Furthermore, there is a growing public cynicism toward the mainstream media itself. All too often, the government acts not in the public interest but some entrenched commercial interests or to defend the power of officials or politicians.

Gannon shows that credibility is crucial, as is an ethical standard.

Citizen journalism, also known as “participatory journalism,” is the act of citizens “playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analyzing and disseminating news and information,” according to the seminal report We Media: How Audiences are Shaping the Future of News and Information, by Shayne Bowman and Chris Willis.

The new high ground

The Internet offers a powerful tool for communicating and coordinating action and is a powerful force for changing people’s perception of the world. People are turning increasingly to alternative news sources and the Internet is helping fuel this revolution. It is inexpensive to use and increasingly pervasive, with over a half a billion people worldwide now have Internet access. Groups of any size can reach each other and use the Net to promote an agenda. Their members can come from any geographical region, and they can influence foreign policy anywhere in the world. Web sites can serve as a gathering place and source of information for supporters, potential supporters, media and onlookers. A medium for building networks, identify other groups and individuals with similar interests, and gather contact information for potential supporters and collaborators. The Internet lets people all over the world coordinate action without regard to constraints of geography or time. They can form partnerships and coalitions or operate independently.

Information overload continues to grow as a problem. People spend more time searching for the information they need and will need more and more to know how to carry out this task effectively. Education in how to research becomes even more vital. Content management tools are revolutionizing the ease with which any journalist, researcher or writer can update and post to his web site without the need to go through a webmaster. New tools and online services that allow officers, editors and journalists to directly update content of web sites without having to go through lengthy approval processes and the need for HTML coding will start to appear.

Goals and Objectives

Just because six global corporations dominate all print, broadcast and entertainment media in the U.S. today, don’t assume that independent producers are just going to throw in the towel.

The Pacific Northwest while being outside the traditional media outlets, is home to various independent media movements. Indymedia.org was established by independent and alternative media organizations and activists in 1999 to provide grassroots coverage of the World Trade Organization (WTO) protests in Seattle. The center acted as a clearinghouse of information for journalists, and provided up-to-the-minute reports, photos, audio and video footage through its website. Indymedia, now has over one-hundred national and local Independent Media Centers around the world and is growing rapidly. By several measures Indymedia is already the world’s largest news organization. Yet, as a non-commercial, non-hierarchical, evolutionary ‘movement’ that rejects advertising and allows anybody to publish, it is too different from AOL/Time Warner or the BBC to be understood in the same way. And so while many mainstream journalists use it and even participate in it, Indymedia rarely makes the news itself.

Southern Oregon being home to many different alternative media groups who represent their communities and challenge the dominant commercial messages. Locally, the Rogue Valley supports a large, progressive and activist community, with many groups; organizations and non-profits addressing local issues and causes.

Real sustainable economic growth and security can come from the information revolution. Oregon has an opportunity to lead the nation in extending the benefits of technology to all residents of the state, regardless of location or income. This opportunity will only be realized with the active participation of Oregon’s residents, institutions and communities. To gain the economic and social benefits it is necessary to provide technical assistance for underserved communities, to increase the availability of broadband infrastructure and to enhance applications utilizing the infrastructure.

Independent news researchers and services are realizing quickly that the future is very much in the hands of smaller, faster and independent agencies or journalists, who can validate or feed news items independently of the major media conglomerates.

• To provide alternative journalists with the short-term, low-cost training needed to improve writing, editing, reporting, production and fundraising skills.
• To promote the discussion and development of a philosophy and practice of alternative journalism.
• Promote local stories and authors.
• Promote public awareness and analysis of media issues.
• To provide grassroots groups with affordable and accessible training in media relations.
• Promoting the adaptation of advocacy and traditional grassroots organizing to the age of connectivity.

The major focus should be the development and utilization of community resources without regards to profitability and to learn about fundraising techniques, participatory action research and outreach development. Treat information and knowledge as a renewable resource under the concept of sustainable development.

 

What we are creating is a new model for hyper-local independent media production and distribution. One that complements, not competes.

The Rogue Independent Media Project is a grassroots effort to use media production and distribution as a tool to promote social and economic justice. The IMP is a cooperative effort of independent journalists and media activists. We are neither owned nor funded by big conglomerates or advertisers — that’s why we need your support to sustain our efforts!

We will continue our work of providing low-cost, accessible media training for alternative media workers, community groups, and other interested individuals. Our goal is to provide people with the skills and tools to tell their own stories and the stories in their community.

• Develop an ongoing series of media training workshops.
• Publish workshop tools and training manuals.
• Publish a guide to alternative media in the Rogue Valley.
• Develop media skills and media literacy workshops for students.
• Develop a media training retreat/school.
• Open a resource center for alternative media.

The major focus of this project to promote the development and utilization of community resources without regards to profitability and to learn about fundraising techniques, participatory action research and outreach development

In addition we hope to assist grassroots organizations in developing effective media relations strategies that increase the quality of coverage of their activities in the commercial and alternative media.