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Media Crisis and
Grassroots
Response
By Jordan
Flaherty
The media
landscape in the
US is changing
rapidly. As all
forms of
journalists face
massive layoffs,
analysts fear
that
journalism’s
role as a
counterforce
against the
powerful is in
jeopardy. For
progressives and
radicals working
in media, it’s
important to not
only question
what format news
will come in,
but also how to
approach our
work so it is
both accountable
and sustainable.
While
corporations
have shown an
ever-decreasing
interest in
funding
investigative
journalism,
independent
media is
undergoing its
own
transformation.
Part of it is in
economic
challenges to
old methods of
distribution,
such as rising
print costs and
postage rates
for print
publications.
But the larger
transformation
has been in
where people
turn for news
and information.
For much of the
last century, a
vibrant world of
left journalism
was an important
part of
movements for
change. Hundreds
of radical
magazines,
newspapers and
radio stations
did the hard
work of covering
stories that the
corporate media
wouldn’t take
on. But, in
recent years,
that work of
journalism has
been
increasingly
abandoned to the
corporate media,
while radicals
and progressives
– especially
through websites
and blogs – have
been more likely
to comment on
the stories
reported by
others. This
work of media
criticism is
vital. However,
now that news
corporations are
increasingly
making the
decision that
journalism is no
longer
profitable or
needed, there is
also a need for
an organized
alternative to
take their
place. At last
year’s Allied
Media Conference
– a gathering of
radical
grassroots
media-makers in
Detroit –
organizers asked
the question,
“What is our
evolution,
beyond
survival?”
The State of
Corporate Media
The US military
has not
withdrawn from
Iraq, but the US
media has.
The New York
Times
reported in
December that,
“America’s three
broadcast
network news
divisions have
stopped sending
full-time
correspondents
to Iraq.” The
article went on
to note “network
evening
newscasts
devoted 423
minutes to Iraq
[in
2008]…compared
with 1,888
minutes in
2007.” The
fading coverage
of Iraq is a
reflection of
political
decisions and
ratings
pressures, but
it also
illustrates some
of what we are
losing as
funding is cut
for serious
journalism in
almost every
format.
The cuts are
affecting every
type of media.
NPR, which until
recently had
been undergoing
a growth in
staff and
programming,
recently
cancelled
News and Notes,
their only news
program that
focused on Black
issues. This
came as they cut
almost 10% of
their staff
nationwide.
The
much-discussed
end of print
seems to portent
the biggest
changes,
especially for
local news
coverage. At
least 525
magazines went
out of business
in 2008,
according to
mediafinder.com,
and even more
went under in
2007. The Los
Angeles Times
has cut nearly
half its staff
in the last
eight years,
while the
Tribune Company
announced that
they would trim
500 pages of
news each week
from their
twelve papers.
The Miami
Herald
slashed 370 jobs
last year,
nearly a third
of their
workforce, with
more cuts
announced for
this year. Book
publishers –
corporate and
independent –
have also been
announcing staff
layoffs and
bankruptcies.
Many of these
reductions
happened before
the current
economic
freefall, and
there are dire
predictions of
steeper drops on
the horizon.
When The
Christian
Science Monitor
recently ended
weekday
publication
after a century,
The New York
Times quoted
the paper’s
editor as
saying, “We have
the luxury – the
opportunity – of
making a leap
that most
newspapers will
have to make in
the next five
years.” Last
week, the
Seattle
Post-Intelligencer
became the
largest US paper
to make the
shift to being
only available
online, laying
off the vast
majority of its
staff in the
process.
Journalism
and Money
The story behind
the statistics
is this:
consumption of
media hasn’t
gone down – if
anything, it’s
gone way up. But
as more and more
people have
become
accustomed to
getting their
media online and
for free, who
will fund
journalism?
Corporations
will continue to
make money off
of media. And
they will
certainly fund a
certain amount
of journalism as
a part of this.
But for
independent
media-makers,
will this work
continue to be
financially
sustainable? And
will new models
of funding work
for them?
As technology
has made most
kinds of media
creation easier,
the range of
people doing
this work has
grown. At the
Allied Media
Conference, an
annual gathering
of radical
media, it
appears the
future of media
is alive and
well. From
hip-hop artists
to radio
activists to
video
journalists,
radical
educators, and a
network of women
of color
bloggers, the
several hundred
participants at
last year’s
gathering were
younger than
most
conferences,
with many high
school students
who are already
deeply involved
in challenging
work, and the
gathering had
much more of a
queer energy
than most media
gatherings. The
conference was
also majority
people of color,
and very much
focused on
organizing and
social
movements.
Although print
is
under-represented
at the
conference
(which
ironically began
as a gathering
of zine makers),
the dialogue
that exists
between
different
mediums
represented is
inspiring.
Seeing
gatherings like
this, I believe
that there is a
new generation
coming up who
will continue to
use these tools
to hold the
powerful
accountable.
But even with
many
technological
barriers
removed, there
is still a need
for money. Every
potential source
of funding has
its problems.
Advertising
funds some news
websites, but
that’s not an
option for
anti-corporate
media-makers.
Foundations have
stepped in to
fund
investigative
reporting and
other projects,
but this funding
doesn’t nearly
meet the need,
and – in this
time of economic
crisis – this
form of support
is going down.
Finally, critics
point out that
getting funding
from foundations
is not so
different from
getting money
from
corporations.
Through your
funding, you
become
accountable to
the wealthy
people who are
paying you, and
not to your
community’s
needs.
Reader
Support
Without
alternative
sources of
funding,
publishing any
kind of print
publication can
be extremely
difficult.
Bitch Magazine
is one of the
larger
independent
publications,
selling tens of
thousands of
copies of each
issue. The
magazine has an
extremely small
staff, a
specific niche
that they fill
that no one else
does, and a
loyal
readership. Yet
even with these
advantages, they
recently faced a
serious
financial
shortfall.
Last September,
Bitch’s
editor and
publisher
announced on
their website
and in a youtube
video that they
need to raise
$40,000 by
October 15 or
they would have
to cease
publishing. They
raised $46,000
in three days,
and over the
next several
weeks tens of
thousands
dollars more
came in. They
now have well
over 500
sustainers who
have pledged to
donate anywhere
from $5 to $100
or more every
month. The
crisis they
faced
illustrates the
fragility of all
independent
magazines, but
the quick and
massive
outpouring of
support
demonstrates
that financial
support is
possible from
our communities.
While media
companies have
repeatedly
failed in their
attempts to get
readers to
regularly pay
for their
product,
examples like
Bitch
provide some
evidence that
people will pay
to keep a valued
resource alive.
New
Distribution
Models
Grassroots
organizers and
activists
founded Left
Turn Magazine
– the
publication I
work with - as a
political
project. The
magazine has
focused on
writing by
people directly
involved in
movements,
rather than
journalists or
academics. We
are an
all-volunteer
collective with
members in
cities across
the US,
including
Chicago, Durham,
Washington DC,
New York City,
Oakland, and New
Orleans.
In 2004, the
magazine was
passed on to an
editorial
collective made
up mostly of
organizers and
activists.
Instead of
media-makers who
founded a
magazine, we are
organizers who
suddenly had a
magazine given
to us. Because
of this, we have
always seen the
magazine as a
tool or resource
for social
movements, and
we have looked
for alternate
models of
distribution,
not relying on
corporate
distributors and
bookstores, or
anonymous mass
mailings.
Most of our
distribution
happens through
what we call our
activist
distribution
network –
grassroots
organizations,
activists,
infoshops, and
collectives who
pay what they
can and
distribute the
magazine to
their
communities.
Many of these
distributors
also suggest
content for the
magazine and
write articles
about organizing
happening in
their
communities.
This model is
not necessarily
sustainable for
a larger
project, and has
many drawbacks.
But we have
consistently
grown while
magazines all
around us have
gone out of
business over
the past years.
Most
importantly, we
believe that our
model - which
involves much
more direct
contact with our
readers -
creates a kind
of journalism
that is more
accountable to
the communities
it seeks to
serve.
Grassroots
Media Tour
Recently,
Left Turn
joined a
coalition of
activist
projects that
launched the
Grassroots Media
Tour. Sponsors
included several
print
publication,
such as Bitch
Magazine,
ColorLines
Magazine, $pread
Magazine,
and
Make/Shift
Magazine, as
well as Free
Speech Radio
News. The
tour brought
performances,
film screenings,
poetry,
workshops, and
discussions to
communities
across the South
– from
Greensboro,
North Carolina,
and Miami,
Florida, to
Denton, Texas.
Nearly one
thousand people
saw the tour,
with
standing-room
only crowds in
several cities.
For participants
in the tour, the
most exciting
aspect was the
opportunity to
connect with
people across
the South who
are engaged in
the vital work
of connecting
media and social
justice. We met
with
organizations
such as the Hive
in Greensboro,
Project South in
Atlanta, Take
Back the Land in
Miami, Esperanza
Peace and
Justice Center
in San Antonio,
and many more.
We found
inspiring and
exciting
organizations
struggling in
innovative ways
for justice and
liberation.
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Some of our
inspiration for
this tour came
from the mass
mobilizations
for the
Jena Six
in 2007. Almost
50,000 people
from around the
US came to
support high
school students
in a small town
in northern
Louisiana who
were facing life
in prison for a
school fight.
The organizing
and publicity
for the Jena
case originated
from the
families
themselves, and
spread from
there. Left
Turn was the
first national
news outlet to
cover the case,
and the story
spread over
email, blogs,
social
networking
sites, Black
radio, and other
noncorporate
outlets such as
Democracy Now
and The Final
Call
newspaper.
While
CNN and every
other major
corporate news
outlet
eventually
covered the
case, there is
no doubt that it
was activists
that made it a
story they
couldn’t ignore.
The
attention
certainly
helped
the
students
–
all
of
them
are
in
school,
rather
than
in
prison. |
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While
five of the six
still have
charges hanging
over their
heads, they are
in a much better
situation, with
much better
legal
representation,
than most Black
youths entangled
in the Prison
Industrial
Complex.
However, this
public scrutiny
was also hard
for the young
students at the
center of the
case. Mychal
Bell, the only
member of the
Jena Six to have
been convicted,
recently
attempted
suicide,
shooting himself
in the chest
with a gun.
The
Jena Six
case serves to
illustrate two
important
points. The
first is the
power of
independent
media, which
helped to
nurture this
story until the
major outlets
could no longer
ignore it. The
second lesson is
the importance
of
accountability
in our movement.
It’s not enough
for media to be
focused on
grassroots
struggles; we
also need
communication,
collaboration,
and empathy for
those directly
affected. As Mychal Bell has
demonstrated,
there are lives
at stake.
New technology
will continue to
change the way
we consume
information. But
the need for
communication
across
communities and
for uncovering
the deceptions
of the powerful
remains
unchanged. We
need to find
ways, as a
movement, that
we can support –
and hold
accountable –
grassroots,
community-oriented
media. Its clear
that
corporations
wont do it for
us.
Jordan Flaherty
is a journalist
based in New
Orleans, and an
editor of Left
Turn Magazine.
He was the first
writer to bring
the story of the
Jena Six to a
national
audience and his
reporting on
post-Katrina New
Orleans has been
published and
broadcast in
outlets
including Die
Zeit (in
Germany), Clarin
(in Argentina),
Al-Jazeera,
TeleSur, and
Democracy Now.
He is also
co-director of
PATOIS: The New
Orleans
International
Human Rights
Film Festival.
He can be
reached at
neworleans@leftturn.org.
A full report
from the
Grassroots Media
Tour is online
at:
durhamtodenton.blogspot.com
Other Resources:
Allied Media
Conference:
http://www.alliedmediaconference.org
Left Turn
Magazine:
http://www.leftturn.org
Bitch Magazine:
http://bitchmagazine.org/
PATOIS: The New
Orleans
International
Human Rights
Film Festival:
http://patoisfilmfest.org/
Other recent
reporting by
Jordan Flaherty:
Torture at
Angola Prison -
http://monthlyreview.org/mrzine/flaherty270109.html
New Orleans
reactions to
Obama’s election
(in Spanish) -
http://www.clarin.com/diario/2008/11/10/elmundo/i-01799537.htm
Video report for
Democracy Now
during Hurricane
Gustav -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtfcMkdoNhk
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Floodlines
Community and Resistance from Katrina to the
Jena Six
By Jordan Flaherty
Preface by Tracie Washington
/ Foreward by Amy Goodman
When Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, it
was a tragedy. What followed was a
government-sanctioned travesty. Flaherty, a
white New Orleans resident and journalist,
interviews a number of locals about the
recovery effort, outlining a systemic
pattern that includes restrictions of
service, human rights violations, and
destruction of property targeting the city's
African-American majority. |
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The behavior of the notorious New Orleans police
department towards this community is appalling, but
even more distressing is Flaherty's reporting on the
failure of the federal government to respond to the
needs of its citizens, and their use of paramilitary
mercenaries to enforce a pattern of brutal
occupation. To learn how profoundly the system
failed (and continues to fail) will be extremely
difficult for some readers, and Flaherty pulls no
punches in his quest to uncover failures,
highlighting how the systems in place for rebuilding
(foundation support, non-profit groups, military
intervention) remain woefully inadequate. Readers
will be compelled, depressed, disturbed, and angered
by what they find in this well-written report.
Crucial reading—Publishers
Weekly
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Disintegration: The Splintering of Black
America
By
Eugene Robinson
In this
clear-eyed and compassionate study, Robinson
(Coal to Cream), Pulitzer Prize–winning
journalist for the Washington Post, marshals
persuasive evidence that the
African-American population has splintered
into four distinct and increasingly
disconnected entities: a small elite with
enormous influence, a mainstream
middle-class majority, a newly emergent
group of recent immigrants from Africa and
the Caribbean, and an abandoned minority
"with less hope of escaping poverty than at
any time since Reconstruction's end."
Drawing on census records, polling data,
sociological studies, and his own
experiences growing up in a segregated South
Carolina college town during the 1950s,
Robinson explores 140 years of black history
in America, focusing on how the civil rights
movement, desegregation, and affirmative
action contributed to the fragmentation. Of
particular interest is the discussion of how
immigrants from Africa, the "best-educated
group coming to live in the United States,"
are changing what being black means. |
Robinson notes that despite the enormous strides
African-Americans have made in the past 40 years,
the problems of poor blacks remain more intractable
than ever, though his solution--"a domestic Marshall
Plan aimed at black America"--seems implausible in
this era of cash-strapped state and local
governments.—Publishers
Weekly
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posted 29 March
2009
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