News in Seattle

Why is Independent Media Important!

In 1983, 50 corporations owned 90% of U.S. media (newspapers, magazines, TV, radio, books, music, movies, videos, wire services and photo agencies). That number already seems dismal at best. In 2004 only 5 corporations owned 90% of U.S. media outlets. Those 5 Time Warner, Disney, Murdoch's News Corporation, Bertelsmann of Germany and Viacom, with General Electric coming in at a close sixth.

What?!

This seems bizarre, doesn't it. Corporations that are most likely hundreds of miles away from where you live are reporting on the news and are determining what you need to know and what you do not need to know.

Now, if there were, let's say an independent radio station, video collective, newspaper, local indymedia collective and zine publisher then communities would have agency in their local media.

BUT how do you start something like this? What do you need?

The great thing is that you do not need anything...well that may be a bit of an exaggeration but not by much. You want people to know what happened at the corner of Madison and 12th yesterday then post it on the Seattle IndyMedia website. If you see something that you think is news then get it out there.

Some people always have a video camera with them so they can capture those moments, some call it guerilla video. While others just carry around pencil and paper and write it down for later. Start by posting your news and see what happens. OR you can look into joining some things that have already started....

Local Seattle Independent Media-

IndyMedia-seattle.indymedia.org, This is a website that anyone can post news on. If you think that it is important and not covered by the corporate media well or at all then out it up here. The more information posted, the more people will come to it to get the scoop on Seattle.

Hollow Earth Radio- www.hollowearthradio.com is a community-run online radio station that presents a forum for music, sounds and perspectives commonly under-represented by the media. They support the local music community in the Pacific Northwest by exposing works that have yet to be unearthed or have long been dormant. You can always tune in online and they are always looking for new djs and new ideas for shows.

Zine Archiving and Publishing Project (ZAPP) - www.hugohouse.org/house/zapp, the physical location is at the Richard Hugo House in Capitol Hill at 1634 11th Avenue. 206-322-7030: ZAPP is not currently publishing but you can always submit your zine project and they would be thrilled. ZAPP has over 20,000 zines, comics, chapbooks and other small press periodicals making it one of largest archives anywhere. This is a great place to hang out and look at thousands of zines.

Real Change- Real Change is Seattle’s weekly activist publication with an ear to the street. Our publication is sold by Seattle’s homeless and helps them earn the money they need to get ahead. Each month, more than 200 different vendors are out selling our paper throughout the Seattle area. Real Change is a hand up, not a handout.

Our publication strives to create fairness, opportunity and community by covering issues that socially conscious people want to know about, from topics surrounding poor and homelessness, to stories about labor, the environment, public health and civil liberties (to name a few).

Eat The State!-eatthestate.org-Eat The State! is more of an op-ed news rag than a professional news source. Still, they manage to not come off as a collection of essays, and they tend to put a lot of thought into research and accessibility. This is a good paper to volunteer for for those who want to put their journalistic skills to good use.

The So-Called Independents-

Seattle Weekly- Overall just not that good. But it is free so it won't cost ya to take a look.

The Stranger- “Seattle’s Only Newspaper” they facetiously say. The writing is generally catty and often elitist, but that’s what you get when your paper is edited by Dan Savage. Still, there are great columns (like Last Days and Savage Love), and they often report on things that affect our community.

The Corporate Media-

Seattle Times

If you do not see a project here that you think is desperately needed then start somethin'. There are those people that supposedly are accountable to us: cops, politicians, schools and government services. But are they really if the only media that would report on them is owned by 5 corporations that probably own the cops, politicians, schools and government. So...sorry for the profanity but freedom of the press...I call bullshit.