[CIMC-working] (Chuck0: critique of open newswire)

[Chris Kaihatsu]

http://www.indymedia.org.il/imc/israel/webcast/44197.html

The Sad Decline of Indymedia

December 8, 2002 

It was a great idea when the Independent Media Center opened up its first
website for the Seattle anti-WTO protests in December 1999. The first IMC
website came out of years of alternative and grassroots media activism. By a
strange quirk of fate, the Seattle IMC also included something called the
"open newswire," an experiment that allowed every reader to be a reporter,
if they wanted to get involved in DIY, participatory media production. The
IMC network recently observed its 3rd anniversary and the 100th IMC went
online, but the IMC project is facing some serious problems which, if they
aren't addressed by the supporters of the IMC network, will eventually
destroy the wonderful idea that is Indymedia.

There are some that would argue that the Indymedia network needs a stronger
organization to address its current and persistent problems. This may be
somewhat true, but those of us who have pressed for reforms find ourselves
at the mercy of a network of people who are afraid to step forward and make
tough decisions. It might help if there were some more organized processes,
but I see the chief problem with Indymedia these days to be a political one,
not an organizational or technical problem.

The IMC Network has a statement of principles and so do most local IMCs.
However, the political orientation of the IMC has never been firmly
established. Other IMC volunteers and myself have strongly argued for a
series of regional IMC meetings and conventions to resolve these questions.
The problems with the IMC's vague politics is not so much what ideology it
should embrace, rather what ideologies and content the IMC Network
rejectsand opposes. This vagueness on politics has allowed an international
network of right wingers and racists to abuse and disrupt the IMC websites,
which has harmed the IMC's functionality and reputation in ways that may not
be fixable without stepping on lots of toes.

If you are a regular visitor to the IMC-Global website
(http://www.indymedia.org), you may have noticed some big changes earlier
this year. The "open" newswire was moved off the front page for a variety of
reasons. The most diplomatic reason was that many felt that the features
being created by local IMCs should be featured on the Global website. This
was a solid idea and should have been implemented despite the other reasons.
The messier reason why the open newsire was relocated was because the IMC
Global volunteers were fighting a losing campaign against right wing
disruption of the website. This disruption aimed to establish "free speech"
space on the Indymedia websites for right wing views and racist posts--the
people doing this knew that the liberal free speech attitudes of most IMC
volunteers would paralyze them from implementing consistent moderation. This
right wing attack also included the posting of constant anti-semitic
content, right wing op-eds and articles (carefully stripped of their source
infromation), conspiracy theories, and other crap designed to ruin the
reputation of the Independent Media Network.

I was part of the IMC Global Newswire collective during this period and made
proposals concerning a process to deal with this problems. I also
painstakenly documented the attack patterns by the right wingers and showed
that certain individuals were posting similar content at the same time to
various IMCs. This campaign by our enemies was successful because the IMC
volunteers refused to implement aggressive moderation and otherwise dragged
their feet until the changes were made earlier this year.

What did we lose when the right-wingers won? First, we lost the Indymedia
network as a public space for our activists. If you remember what the IMC
websites were like in the year after Seattle, you will remember them as
places where activists came together to talk about issues. After the right
wingers had their way for a year, you would commonly hear activists complain
about Indymedia and say that they didn't bother with Indymedia anymore.

Secondly, the inability of the IMC network to take aggresive action against
racist and anti-semitic posts further damaged the Indymedia's reputation
with Jewish people and people of color. We understand that some pro-Israel
extremists think that anycriticism of Israel is anti-semitic, but the IMC
network became a hotbed of just plain anti-Jewish articles, opinions, and
comments. Part of the problem within the IMC network is that most activists
refused to stand up to the free speech totalitarians within the network, who
argued that everything posted should stay visible to the public.

I've been a free speech advocate for many years and often considered myself
to be a free speech zealot, but not even I would argue that our websites
should provide anyspace for right wing and racist views. The racists have
their websites--we don't need to use our limited resources to promote their
hideous and offensive views.

The net result of this inaction is that racist and anti-semitic views became
normalizedon Indymedia websites. Sure, newswire moderators would remove the
occasional racist rant or picture, but lots of stuff was left online. This
normalizationof racist content showed the racists and right wingers that
they could have their way with Indymedia. It also alienated lots of
potential Indymedia supporters. Why should a Jewish activist participate in
an alternative media project that tolerates hate speech against that person?

I'm also convinced that the right wing posted lots of conspiracy content to
ruin the repuation of Indymedia. I have no problem with the occasional
conspiracy-type article posted to an IMC website, but I think there was good
circumstantial evidence that the right wing was posted conspiracy content
with the aim of damaging the reputation of Indymedia, not just in the eyes
of the public, but in the eyes of the chief stakeholders: the activist
community (and movements).

I still remain a big supporter of the Indymedia project. The Indymedia
project has become a revolutionary force that has greatly empowered DIY
journalists, rank-and-file activists, and average working people. This essay
is not meant to criticize IMC volunteers, rather to call out to supporters
of alternative media projects to speak up and demand that the IMC make some
tough decisions to address these vexing and persistent problems. The
Indymedia project has great potential. Let's not throw out the baby with
bathwater in our efforts not to step on toes.