alternativemedia – Citizen Reporter

Madge, Live in Paris

MAdge Madge Weinstein is an internet celebrity, a culinary pioneer, and an extremely irritable elderly lesbian. Beyond all that, she is an inspiration to several generations of children around the world. After surviving many tragedies, including 3 Bush presidential terms and the current socio-political disaster that has gripped the United States, this podcasting diva has moved her life to Paris where she is sharing her talents with the people of France who already hate her.

A long time friend of citizenreporter.org, we went to visit her in her tiny Parisienne home where the water had suddenly been cut off. There we had the chance to ask her about her decision to leave the United States, the political and social reifications of that move, and her interest in the global occupy movement. The discussion spontaneously evolves into topics like dominance of mainstream media, the human centipede 2, and yeast.

Listen to Madge’s legendary Podcast: Yeast Radio

Voices of Resistance in Libya

Sometimes you’re reading a book, attending a lecture, watching a film, or listening to an interview and a voice grabs you. The story grabs you. The combination of the story, the voice, and some unknown, undetectable qualities grab hold of you and they shake you somehow. You may have been paying attention, but now you’re really paying attention. You may have cared, but now you’re passionate. You may have had ideas, but you’re inspired.

Citizen Media — Photo by Al Jazeera English on Flickr

Sarah Abdurrahman is one of those determined, inspired, and modest voices that pulled me into her world recently. A producer for On The Media, she has been heavily involved as a Libyan-American activist with the Feb 17th voices movement, or as properly known on twitter: @feb17voices. This group of people, including Sarah, are doing what they can to get real information about what is going on around Libya during this critical time. Its obviously no easy task and there is great risk for those on the ground, not to mention the fear of not succeeding that many have struggled with even before this amazing uprising.

In one poignient moment while being interviewed, Sarah speaks about her father, who decades ago was doing the exact same type of work only with different technology. She speaks about how the older generation has fought and feel that disillusioned after having not succeeded back then. She wants them to know their struggle is part of this struggle. She wants them to know what anyone who fights in this life for a better world wants to know: that they didn’t do so for nothing. That their lives have had purpose, and they are appreciated, and directly connected to everything happening now.

Do yourself a favor, be open to inspiration. Listen yourself to the fantastic Sarah Abdurrahman’s testimony. It won’t be the last time the world takes notice of her.

More on Journalism In Digital Times

“It would be better to have a society with newspapers and no government, than one with government and no newspapers.” – Thomas Jefferson.

Robert McChesney and John Nichols are two people that have taught me alot about how the global media works and doesn’t work. Their writing has accompanied me throughout my journey as the independent and admittedly unorthodox type of journalist that I try to be. So when they talk, I take it seriously. Last week they were guests on Radio Open Source to talk about their vision of the future of journalism in a digital age. I’m now listening to this program for the third time, still trying to decide what they’re telling us and how I feel about that vision.

Ultimately I recommend anyone and everyone out there listen to the program so you get the details directly from them and not from me translating it the way I understand it. But I’ll just go over the part I like best and I feel its close to the “third way” of funding journalism in the future, that I’ve been looking for.

According to McChesney and Nichols, the idea is that a free press will not just happen naturally, if there is no funding for citizen and community media, the government should take steps to make sure it can exist and compete with commercial or any other media. To do so, they envision every citizen getting 200$ (in the US case) in federal money to put towards a non-profit non-commercial media outlet of their choosing, every year.

Thus if there’s a local radio station or newspaper doing work you appreciate and want to see continue, you put your annual money on them. Say you live in a place, a community where you wish there was some kind of community project, you could pool money amongst the people of the neighborhood and start a new non profit media center. In the case that you fund something one year and in that year it doesn’t do what you feel is a good job or ceases to produce anything of use, in the following year you can put your money somewhere else.

At first I thought this plan was an old plan that had been laid out and debunked long ago. But listening to it now, this might really be something. A chance to get around the profit motive that has choked out so much good reporting. It doesn’t mean there won’t be commercial media, those would continue to exist much in the way they do now. In fact McChesney points out that in the nations where the most money is given in subsidies to non-commercial media, the private sector is the most robust! Beyond that such a system would encourage philanthropists, including some people I know, to start new projects in non commercial media and gain support from the public.

Give the program a listen, after 3 listens I have finally recognized that this is not just the same old discussion about what will happen to media.. there are possible answers here.

bm298 Imprisoned, Persecuted, and On the Air

Tucked away somewhere in the labyrinth of streets on the Asia side of Istanbul, you’d think you were walking into someone’s house until you notice that each room in this apartment is part of this modest radio station. Sitting in a sun room with windows overlooking this section of the city, sipping tea, I asked this producer from ?zg?r Radyo about how this radio station is alternative.? “Alternative to the government..” she began..

This interview is the 3rd in a series of podcasts focusing on alternative media in Turkey, this time focusing on radio and the struggle to bring forward minority voices.

Music

The Clash – Remote Control
The Roots – Rising Up

Please Note – Once again I’m experimenting with translation, this time I’ve left all the original audio in the recording, this means lots of Turkish – enjoy!

bm295 An Alternative Media Network in Turkey

Bianet is an alternative media network in Turkey. The network’s goal is to cover the topics which the mainstream will not or does not, with a special emphasis on human rights, labor, women’s rights, the environment, and much more. How are they funded? Is their structure alternative? What does it mean to be alternative in Turkey’s media landscape? My guest, an editor at Bianet, sat down with me at their office in Istanbul to explain.

Bianet in English

A mission statement

Speaking with Sijeka in London recently, for an upcoming podcast on the French elections, she mentioned opendemocracy.net. I was invited to write an entry for their blog “The Democratic Image”. And so I did, and as it turns out, I really enjoyed writing it and have been meaning to put these thoughts and facts into words, so go give it read please.

Here’s a quote, just for fun (its sad when you start quoting yourself)

It seems to me that despite all the potential that the internet and personal publishing in all its forms brings to the world, we are still in the primordial ooze stage of what could become a long media evolution.