Ida B. Wells Media Justice Center - How It WorksHOME ABOUT SUPPORT CONTACT PARTNERS HOW IT WORKS HOW IT WORKS THREE ARTICLES by POOR NEWS NETWORK about the Media Justice Center at the US Social Forum: Scenario 1: Independent media producer from KPFK in LA would support/facilitate with John X race, poverty scholar and survivor of police brutality to report on a workshop on police brutality and the prison industrial complex for radio and on-line media. Scenario 2: John x would be one of the spokespeople for that morning’s Press Conference to Corporate media and part of the corporate media headline production. Scenario 3: The local paper decides to cover (report on) the Forum when they learn about the Family Reunion and BBQ for former inmates, their families and the families of those currently incarcerated. The paper is contacted via press release and a reporter comes to a morning press conference to find out more information about the event. Marisa X from one of the families at the event has already been through the Media Advocacy Training at the MJC and signs up to be a press liaison, meeting up with the reporter beforehand to discuss the story. Marisa X accompanies the reporter to the event, and she and her family’s story feature prominently in the final article. NAQs (Never Asked Questions) 1. What is non-colonizing, community-rooted media production? Media production that is led, designed and shaped by the people traditionally "seen" and "heard" as the "subject" of the news; i.e., poor folks, disabled, youth, incarcerated, houseless, elders, families, day laborers, working poor, etc. These are the leaders at POOR Magazine. We have created a new form of scholarship - a new canon of poverty, race, youth and disability scholarz. As folks who have experienced these positions of oppression first-hand we have personally felt, struggled, understood, dealt with and solved the extremely complex problems related to living and surviving through our lives. The other crucial and radical aspect of this news is that it is led by what it can do for the community, not the reporter, the corporation, the news service. So for instance, a corporate media series "on homelessness" is created to "talk about what we can do about homelessness" - whereas our kind of media production would be led by the homeless folks themselves and would focus specifically on getting folks housed or dealing with issues affecting the homeless folks at the place where they convene or a law, policy or form of harassment impacting us such as the rise in criminalization of houseless people. This concept of a caring and rooted media is contrary to most media production; corporate and independent, which is inherently voyeuristic- reporters come in and do the story - perhaps they "embed" or follow the story for a period of time - they write, report or produce the media and then go on the next story. Our form of media production isn't "embedded" or on a story for a period of time - its an integral part of community problem solving and community care-giving: to re-unite CPS (Child Protective Services) separated families, to embarrass a landlord into stepping away from an illegal eviction, to stop a gentrification effort, to open the NIMBY-istic locked bathrooms of a neighborhood park for the use of undocumented workers, to name a few of the campaigns that POOR has collaborated on. This form of media production plays one more important role- as a direct advocate and support. For example, reporting is only one part of creating change when it comes to the pending eviction of an African Descendent elder. Other work would include helping her with all parts of her life, including the worst-case scenario of helping her to move and find a new apartment. 2. Why should these voices lead media production? Why is it important to create this kind of Press room/press community (space) and why do these voices matter? When our voices as poverty and race scholars shape our stories, the activism and the media organizing efforts are from the "inside." We know what we need - we know what needs to be done - for our communities, for our families, for our world. 3. How do Indymedia, other community-rooted and local media and corporate media integrate into this project? All forms of media partners are an extremely important part of this project’s concept. We define the roles of these groups/organizations as supportive partners. This is an effort to break through the hierarchal position these media entities often hold in the structures of production and the inherent education privileges of most of these professionals. Our vision is that corporate media actually listens and has a mutual exchange with the lead poverty, race and disability scholars who are the core sources and reporters on the story. Independent media- just like POOR’s interns- should be filling what we call the role of media facilitator. This means to facilitate the media production/stories of the poverty race, youth and disability scholars, through listening and mutual critique, media analysis, writing, technological capacity building, and ultimately co-authorship. HOME ABOUT SUPPORT CONTACT PARTNERS HOW IT WORKS |