[IMC-bristol] wacc.org.uk article.

[anarchist606 at hushmail.com]

I've written an article for the wacc.org.uk thing that was posted here
and passed it on!

The Growth and Growth of Bristol Indymedia 
------------------------------------------ 

This article is being written from the perspective of an Indymedia volunteer,
 a reader of the site and a writer on the site. This gives a perspective
from inside and from the outside of which to write about and comment
upon it. 

Bristol Indymedia was founded by local activists with help from the London
Indymedia collective. It's been going for over a year now and has a very
definite local agenda. This direction was established at the initial
public meetings that established the site. The discussion centered on
the idea that for the site to truly be called 'Bristol' it had to reflect
Bristol and the surrounding area. Great strides are made to moderate
and manage the site so as to ensure that local voices are the loudest.
That's not to say the site does not feature news from outside the area,
 but always we encourage contributors to seek a local angle on international
events. A critic might say that this would leave us as nothing more than
an online version of a local paper; but we believe we are far from it.
To illustrate this it is worth pointing to some of the successes of the
site: 

Bristol Indymedia gave an open forum to anti-war voices during the recent
conflict. Bristol's media outlets; Evening Post, Western Daily Press
and Venue are all owned by Northcliffe Newspapers, as in line with the
group editorial position, devoted most of its war coverage to International
events from the Gulf. Coverage of anti-war voices was marginal at best.
Events such as the historic 10,000 people at Fairford or the blockading
of Bristol city center on the day war broke out were covered extensively
by the people who attended and so the site reflected far more coverage
that was allotted in the mainstream media. 

Coverage and debate of the drugs/crime issues has been extensive on the
site, which again, reflects the reader/writer concern. In the main this
coverage has been written by the people who live in the areas affected
by the crack epidemic within the city and so the voices have had an immediate
authenticity not found elsewhere. 

Local media has also come under scrutiny. It is interesting to note that
the site is frequently visited by the local mainstream media as well
as other institutions such as the police and council; indeed the police
have been known to post articles on the site. It is arguably inevitable
that local media would come under such scrutiny given its one-way consumption
method. As such lively debate frequently explodes on the accuracy, impartiality
and quality of the mainstream media. The most notable of these debates
was local opposition to HTV's 'Currie Night' TV program, which engendered
a lively debate between the site users and the HTV management. 

Recently the site's volunteers have been pushing further the local nature
of the site and to date it seems to be paying off; there has been a marked
increase in comments, local groups using the site and exclusive local
coverage of events. The future also looks bright as the addition of a
calendar system is allowing the site to respond to user requests for
a forum for publicizing events. Bristol Indymedia also organized the
'Communtiy Media Day' in June 2003, which was a huge success in bringing
together local media outlets such as The Spark, Bristle and plugincinema.com
as well as national groups such as Undercurrents and Talkiokie. The event
both was platform for debate on independent media as well as a skill
sharing opportunity which allowed everyone to pickup some media skills;
this being the greatest success of the local and international Indymedia
movement - the blurring of the line between consumer and producer. It
allows ordinary people the opportunity to cease being a passive participant
in the forces that shape their community, and start being an active voice.


http://anarchist606.blogspot.com
Bloging as radical as the issues the world faces.




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