Paper Tiger Television  Smashing the Myths of the Information Industry

The Union for Democratic Communications is an organization of communication researchers, journalists, media producers, policy analysts, academics and activists dedicated to:

*critical study of the communications establishment;
*production and distribution of democratically controlled and produced media;
*fostering alternative, oppositional, independent and experimental production;
*development of democratic communications systems locally, regionally and internationally.

Independent Media Center  This is media democracy in action: people speaking for themselves and reporting our news, not the news of the corporate media. "The IMC, also known as Indymedia, was founded in Seattle in 1999 to cover the protests at the World Trade Organization Summit. With 80 sites now in more than 50 cities worldwide, the IMC has grown out of proportion to anything its founders had anticipated.... The IMC is a nascent, experimental phenomenon. It is impossible to calculate how many people are involved, as participation in the volunteer-run group runs the gamut from those who work full-time to keep the infrastructure running, to those who post a single story during a specific event."

For an article on the Independent Media Centers, go to this link (journal of the internet): http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue7_4/hyde/index.html

Washington, DC Independent Media Center    

DC INDEPENDENT MEDIA CENTER

The DC Independent Media Center is dedicated to building media democracy and increasing community access to technology and information. The DC-IMC is a not-for-profit, volunteer-based organization of independent media producers and investigative researchers, operating in solidarity with the international network of independent media centers to create a viable alternative to the profit-driven agenda of the corporate media. Throughout the world, Indymedia is busting down the walls of conventional journalism by giving everybody the ability to become the media. The DC-IMC is a collaborative organization that welcomes people of diverse backgrounds and perspectives and encourages all volunteers to share their skills and knowledge. Become the media!

The Media Foundation:  We are a global network of artists, activists, writers, pranksters, students, educators and entrepreneurs who want to advance the new social activist movement of the information age. Our aim is to topple existing power structures and forge a major shift in the way we will live in the 21st century. To this end, Adbusters Media Foundation publishes Adbusters magazine, operates this website and offers its creative services through PowerShift, our advocacy advertising agency.

Media Giants   "The past decade's wave of media mergers has produced a complex web of business relationships that now defines America's media and popular culture. These relationships offer a massive opportunity for cross promotion and selling of talent and products among different companies owned by the same powerful parent corporation."

Stop Big Media "The StopBigMedia.com Coalition is an alliance of consumer, public interest, media reform, organized labor and other groups that have joined together to fight runaway media consolidation and urge the FCC to put public service before the self-interest of large media corporations. We believe that a free and vibrant media, full of diverse and competing voices, is the lifeblood of America's democracy. We're working together to see that our media system remains, in the words of the Supreme Court, 'an uninhibited marketplace of ideas in which truth will prevail.'"

Women's Institute for Freedom of the Press  -- Working for the radical restructuring of the communications system so that all people can speak for themelves. Working toward freedom of the press for the individual, not just for corporate media. Seeking media equality, locally and globally.

Whispered Media  "The corporate-owned media is increasingly producing news coverage that lacks substance and truth. Now is the time for the grassroots movements to reclaim our history and our vision and create our own media. To this end, Whispered Media was founded as a collective that promotes the use of video, and other media tools, in progressive grassroots movements. Whispered Media offers video witnessing, support and training, collects archival political footage, and produces video works about specific grassroots campaigns and organizations."

Center for Digital Democracy -- The Center for Digital Democracy is a nonprofit organization working to ensure that the digital media systems serve the public interest.

Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication "The AEJMC exists to promote the highest possible standards for education in journalism and mass communication, to encourage the widest possible range of communication research, to encourage the implementation of a multi-cultural society in the classroom and curriculum, and to defend and maintain freedom of expression in day-to-day living.

Some individuals in the AEJMC are working toward media democracy. Good work is also being done by the Commission on the Status of Women which encourages research and programming on the status of women in journalism/communication education and seeks to balance inequities in the academic community. The Commission publishes a newsletter. Kate Peirce, Chair, Southwest Texas State University (kp02[at]swt.edu)

Hear Us NOW HearUsNow.org follows Consumers Union's long tradition of promoting a fair and just marketplace by empowering consumers to fight for better and more affordable telephone, cable and Internet services or equipment. By focusing on major media, technology and communications issues and emphasizing local stories, HearUsNow.org will help explain increasingly complex issues and the connections between these issues, underscore what's at stake, and offer ways to make improvements.

African Film Festival  "The African Film Festival, Inc. (AFF) is a New York non-profit 501-C3 arts organization. The organization, established in 1990, began as an ad hoc committee of African and American artists and scholars. In the 1950s and '60s, African filmmakers began to create images of post-colonial Africa with nuanced understanding of Africa's cultural diversity. Over the last half a century, having sliced through stereotypes with exacting social critique, African cinema has become a unique blend of aesthetic experimentation, history, and politics."

Labor Media Labor and worker's media and links.

Termite TV: "Artists make TV. Founded in 1992, Termite TV is a Philadelphia-based video collective which produces the television series This is only a Test. The mission of Termite TV is to create multi-faceted and multi-voiced shows which address issues of cultural, political, and aesthetic concern. Our subjects range from the seemingly benign, such as nature and travel, to the more obviously controversial, such as welfare rights and immigration. Termite TV shows have been screened at festivals and museums worldwide."

Free Speech TV   "Free Speech Internet Television is the first audio/video hub on the web created and defined by the people who use it. Establishment media responds to the interests of stockholders and the perspectives of the advertizers who fill its pages, airtime and coffers. Freespeech.org attempt to respond to the interests of that majority of the people whose voices are excluded or distored in the corporate media."

Deep Dish TV "Deep Dish TV is a national satellite network, linking access producers and programmers, independent video makers, activists, and people who support the idea and reality of a progressive television network. We assemble material from producers around the world and transmit it to community television stations and home dish owners nationwide. Where commercial networks present a homogenous and one-dimensional view of society, Deep Dish thrives on diversity. Instead of television that encourages passivity, Deep Dish distributes creative programming that educates and activates. "

The Video Activist Network The VAN is an informal association of activists and politically conscious artists using video to support social, economic and environmental justice campaigns.

Working TV "Working TV is a labour television program broadcast weekly on community access television in the province of British Columbia, Canada. Between 1995 and 1998 the Vision network broadcast 30 of our shows to a national audience across Canada. We are also broadcast on other community access stations across Canada and the United States, and ( at least once! ) on a kibbutz in Israel. Programs have been translated and screened in Korea and soon, in Japan. We have been on air since May 1 1993 and produce regular weekly half hour programs as well as longer programs for broadcast during special events. Several of our productions have won awards. We are primarily a labour show, focusing on union issues. This derives from our original mandate: to counter the marginalization and censorship of labour by mainstream television broadcasters, with labour positive programming produced by working people, for working people. As the years have gone by, we have been producing more and more programming on broader community, political and social justice issues. This reflects the perspective of many progressive unions, including those we work for when we do paying video work. This perspective links union issues with broader community and political issues, and prioritizes coalition building between labour and its social partners."

Indymedia Newsreal It's not just for corporations anymore. INDYMEDIA NEWSREAL, a monthly television series, brings progressive grassroots organizing, going on in your backyard, to a national television audience.

La Lutta New Media Collective, a non-profit, community-based organization in New York, is a group of activists, artists, educators and professionals united to promote a greater level of social awareness through new media. Serving two critical roles, La Lutta is a vital resource for communities. First, La Lutta offers new media technical assistance to non-profit, community and grassroots groups unable to incorporate appropriate technological strategies into their daily operations; and two, La Lutta is a production house for these groups as well as students, artists, and individuals wlack the proper forum for expression, creativity, and information sharing.

Directory of Women's Media -- A directory of media owned and operated primarily by, for and about women. Periodicals (print & internet), publishers, media organizations, and much more.

The Independent "Since 1978, The Independent has been the leading source of information for independent, grassroots, and activist media-makers, providing inspiration and information for their films and video projects, as well as creating connections to the larger independent media community."

Take Back The Media Take Back The Media is a cooperative project by progressive American citizens. We are dismayed at the pro-government, pro-corporate bias shown by American media, and we intend to do something about it.

Directory of the DC Press Corps - complete with names, addresses, email and all! http://takebackthemedia.com/press-corps.html

Big Noise Films   "Big Noise Films is a non-profit media collective dedicated to producing beautiful, politically and culturally challenging films. We imaginatively redeploy new digital technologies to challenge the corporate media monopoly."

Independent Television Service  "In an era that encompasses both the explosion of commercial information enterprises and a consolidation of media empires, the role of public sector media becomes critical to a free, open, and informed society. ITVS brings independently produced programs to television - programs that engage creative risks, advance issues, and represent points of view not usually seen on commercial or public television. ITVS is committed to programming which addresses the needs of under-served audiences, particularly minorities and children."

Link TV is an independent media organization giving voice to the perspectives which are underrepresented in traditional mass media. The stories covered are meant to foster communication, action and cultural understanding.

Unity: Journalists of Color, Inc.   "UNITY: Journalists of Color, Inc. is a strategic alliance advocating news coverage about people of color, and aggressively challenging its organizations at all levels to reflect the nation’s diversity. UNITY, representing more than 10,000 journalists of color, is comprised of four national associations: Asian American Journalists Association, National Association of Black Journalists, National Association of Hispanic Journalists, and the Native American Journalists Association."

Media Education Foundation Challenging Media [Media Education Foundation, 60 Masonic Street,Northampton, Massachusetts 01060. Phone: (800) 897-0089 or (413) 584-8500. E-mail: info@mediaed.org]

Columbia Journalism Review Highlights Mass Media Owners

Commercial Alert   "Commercial Alert's mission is to keep the commercial culture within its proper sphere, and to prevent it from exploiting children and subverting the higher values of family, community, environmental integrity and democracy."

Philippine Centre For Investigative Journalism (PCIJ)   "The Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) is an independent, nonprofit media agency that specializes in investigative reporting. It was founded in1989 by nine Filipino journalists who realized, from their years on the beat and at the news desk, the need for newspapers and broadcast agencies to go beyond day-to-day reportage." (Contact: Sheila Coronel, Executive Director, 905 Horizon Condo, Meralco Avenue, Pasig, Metro Manila, PHILIPPINES. Phone: 0011 63 2 633 2659 & 63 2 635 5704;  Fax: 0011 63 2 633 5887  Email: pcij@cnl.net)

Benton Foundation   The Benton Foundation seeks to articulate a public interest vision for the digital age and to demonstrate the value of communications for solving social problems. Our vision is of a communications environment where the public interest thrives:

* Where access, equity and diversity have pride of place,
* Where nonprofit organizations and community-builders are equipped with the technology tools and training they need to solve problems and share experience,
* Where the content and production of media become increasingly diverse and decentralized and
   * Where political debate and deliberation are informed and participatory.

The Real News Network "If you are like most decent and informed people of our country, you are surely fed up with the lies and misinformation of the mainstream media and are looking for a way to counter these lies and their negative effects. These lies are causing our economy and quality of life to suffer, people of the world to hate us and our so called leaders to act in ways that are against our interest but for the interest of the small minority whom own and finance the mainstream media and thus can cause the election or re-election of whom they choose - thus enjoying a level of power over our government and society that renders it for all practical purposes un-democratic.

Community Media Association   The Community Media Association's mission is "to enable people to establish and develop community based communications media for community development and empowerment, cultural expression, information and entertainment."

Choike, a Mapuche word for the Southern Cross, is a website aimed at improving the Internet visibility and impact of what civil society organisations in developing countries produce and publish. It is a project of the Third World Institute, a non-profit organisation based in Montevideo, Uruguay. Envisioned to be a portal on Southern civil societies, Choike is organised in line with the perspective of Southern civil society. It has an annotated, categorised directory of Southern NGOs; a rich selection of civil society materials that can be accessed as information resources, news items, and in-depth reports providing comprehensive information, reflecting diverse views and featuring key issues such as globalisation, gender, human rights, environment, communication, World Social Forum and other social development topics. It also provides updates on NGO actions and campaigns on a variety of social development concerns such as gender, indigenous peoples, migration and refugees, racism and discrimination and sexual diversity. Language: English, Spanish. c/o Third World Institute, Jackson 1136, Montevideo 11200, Uruguay.

Digital Freedom Network  Founded in 1997, the Digital Freedom Network (DFN) believes that communication is central to human rights. Focusing on the intersection between human rights and the Internet, DFN considers the ability to express oneself freely is not only a fundamental right for all human beings but is also the main tool for those who work to improve human rights.

The DFN uses Internet technology to raise awareness of human rights issues, to help activists publicise their needs to the public, to evaluate how Internet technology affects and can affect human rights, and to promote resources that enable activists to use the Internet more effectively in their work.

DFN promotes human rights education by bringing activists and experts to the people through online human rights conversations with prominent activists and experts. They also provide tools to streamline activists' research and dissemination of material. Templates enable activists to design and maintain their own websites with ease and help develop clean, easily accessible Net-based campaigns. The DFN website also contains original, in-depth human rights news articles and links to very useful web technology tools such as application downloads for privacy, security, and anti-censorship uses, as well as technology tutorials for human rights activists.

Info & statistics: "The broadcasters' promise to 'serve the public interest, convenience and necessity' rings hollow," the group writes. "By the time a child turns 18, she or he will have seen 40,000 murders and 200,000 violent acts on television. This is not in the public's interest. How are women's interests served when 87% of all sound bites from 'experts' are provided by men? And how are people of color served when $92% of those men are white? What message do our kids get when only 10% of children's educational programs have female stars?

     "...While the public airwaves generate an estimated $115 billion in annual revenues, broadcasters pay no rent, no fees, no taxes -- no charges at all -- for their use of the airwaves. And the new digital spectrum will dramatically increase those revenues through corporate use of public assets."

*Number of hours per week the average American child spends in front of television -- 28.
Source: National Institute on Media and the Family

*Number of acts of violence an 18-year-old will have witnessed on TV -- 200,000.
Source: National Institute on Media and the Family

*Percent who think broadcasters pay $100,000 of dollars or more for TV licenses -- 56%.
Source: Lake, Snell, Perry

*Amount of money broadcasters pay for TV licenses--zero.
Source: FCC

*Value of public airwaves given to broadcasters to transition to digital -- $70 billion.
Source: FCC

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