Notes:

 

Hi everyone,

 

At the "Community Organizing and Media" workshop on Media Democracy Day, 45+ people brainstormed together ways that we can

build relationships between different community media networks

, and

strengthen our capacity to work together

.  I have organized the results of the brainstorm into rough categories:

Contacts

,

Approaches

,

Physical Infrastructure

,

Planning

, and

Training

.

Contacts raised in brainstorm:
Coop Radio: 604 684-8494
$haw Inc. public access TV (to access community TV station air time and studio): "Karen Kilba" <

karen dot kilba at sjrb dot ca

> phone: 604.629.3110     fax: 604.629.4231

Approaches:

-Need to acknowledge differences between commercial "community media" (like quote-unquote "ethnic" media), compared to "independent" media. "ethnic" media is not necessarily "independent" and can be commercially owned and run. do we have overlapping interests between this kind of "community media" and the "independent media"? How are our interests, practices, structures in some ways contrary and in some ways overlapping?

-swallow ego when needed (particularly for people from more dominant groups, working with groups and people who tend to get marginalized).

-Balance "product-focussed" action (putting away our differences to get the media out, get the story done, work together, etc.) with vital time for reflection on HOW we work together, how a media space is used:

-important to have media from within communities, not 'observing/watching/studying' - this is akin to tension around service provision and research vs. speaking for oneself

-Offer Collaboration

-Find structural systems that link/affect us all

-Find common cause

-Build relationships

-Try out different roles in media (the way coop radio and other independent media do) - interviewer, interviewee, listener, call-in speaker, production)

-

strength of some independent media such as coop is its decentralized structure. shifitng roles are a strength.

Physical Infrastructure:

-Media Consortium

-Phone tree to different community media

-Newswire (dedicated space in the english language independent media for community media updates and vice versa)

-News aggregator website

-Reprint news stories from each other's media

-Create a physical/geographical "Media Centre" for all community media (commercial and independent) WITH A COFFEE MACHINE ;P.

                   

-note that this has already been tried and the spaces morphed into other kinds of space:

-Create or strengthen a physical Media Space for this! An open drop-in space with equpment, space to meet and keep connected, computers with editing equipment, etc.
-Project and strengthen the usage of existing such media spaces

(there was lots of excitement expressed about this).

-Renew/start a Vancouver Free School with media training

-Create a wiki of local resources, a lending library and resource list so we can share:
                 -spaces available
                 -megaphones, etc.

-use the existing resource: independentmedia.ca - list your media there.

-create an online discussion forum for all independent and community-based media

-create a craigslist or other ad space specifically for people offering media skills (translation, training, editing)

-start a translation and interpretation service for community media workers

Planning (pre-olympics and long-term):

-there will be 'world press briefings' in Feb. 2010. Get activist orgs to take the global media on a tour of affected areas to show them the real local face of the olympics

                

   -eagleridge bluffs/sea-to-sky
                   -mount curry
                   -DTES
                   -other sites ?

-plan a parallel news conference during the olympics

-Olympics coverage starts NOW

-build capacity to plan 'news blitzes' where lots of independent and community media cover the same issue at once, from many different perspectives simultaneously (create our own echo effect with multiplicity of perspectives) - can be on olympics and on other issues once we build that capacity.

Training in media skills

:

-Offer and make use of  Training sessions by community and campus radio

-look on craigslist for ways to get on media - like film and tv opportunities are posted there for discussion programs, and there are volunteer opportunities posted there as well

-Cultural Alliance Centre can teach you how to produce (free!)

-Go to Coop radio for training (also CITR at UBC - citr.cs - and CJSF at SFU)

How do we access equipment to make media and get our voices into the existing media, without money and power?

-Go to Community Access TV: contact karen kilba (see contact info at top of page). $haw is required to give community groups who ask for it one hour a week of air time and full access to their studio.

-when dealing with mainstream commercial media, find the appropriate reporter who covers your beat.

-use speaker's corner (CITY TV)

-make our own "speaker's corner" - idea to take a digicam to the olympics clock and interview people on the street in our own speaker's corner, for working tv or other independent media

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

thanks everyone! this was a very useful brainstorm. while there are always areas that can be improved for next year (come join the coordinating committee if you have ideas for improvements!) we have received a lot of positive feedback about the workshop. it's the people who come out and participate who really make it happen, so thank you to our very valuable resource people as well as to all the participants.

 

it was lovely to see so much interest in community organizing and media at MDD. Hopefully these conversations, plans, and connections will continue!

 

Naava (MDD 2008 coordinating committee member)

For those of you who are hearing about this for the first time, the workshop description is below:

Are you part of a community group or movement that deals with the mainstream media, and/or puts out your own independent media? Through a participatory workshop with resource people, this session seeks to build bridges between community groups working on social justice issues, such as indigenous rights, migrant rights, the environment, poverty, women's rights, etc. What do we have in common and how can we share strategies that are effective at both shaping the corporate media, and at building connections between our respective grassroots media networks? For community organizers and independent media makers from all backgrounds, this workshop focuses on challenges and strategies involved in:

 

• bridging our independent media networks to increase our capacity and comfort level working together
• making media and accessing the existing independent media
• accessing/shaping/responding to the corporate media

Resource People:

Dawn Paley - The Dominion Newspaper contributing editor, active on Mining

Gurpreet Singh - Broadcaster on Radio India, freelance columnist for Surrey Now, freelance reporter for South Asian Post

Marika Swan

- Interim Manager, Redwire Native Youth

Media

Society

Adriana Paz, Justicia for Migrant Workers, Canada-Bolivia Solidarity Network, former independent journalist 

Sid Tan - ACCESS TV producer on Shaw cable community channel and an organiser for Chinese head tax redress movement

 

and you! everyone welcome!

 

Facilitator: Ifny Lachance, Free Geek Vancouver; writer, photographer, community activist

 

************************************

Saturday October 25, Media Democracy Day

Vancouver Public Library, Pete Room

This open discussion will go from 3:15pm to 5:30pm