666 11th St, NW, Suite 740
Washington, DC 20001-4542
Voice: (202) 393-2650
Fax: (202) 393-2653
The Alliance for Community Media is committed to
assuring everyone's access to electronic media. The Alliance accomplishes
this by creating public education, advancing a positive legislative and
regulatory environment, building coalitions, and supporting local organizing.
A nonprofit, national membership organization founded in 1976, the Alliance
represents the interests of over 1,000 public, educational and governmental
("PEG") access organizations (generally known as "public access") and public
access internet centers throughout the United States. It also represents
the interests of an estimated 1.5 million individuals, through their local
religious, community, charitable and other groups, who utilize PEG access
television centers and Internet providers to speak to their memberships
and their larger communities.
AMARC is an international non-governmental organization
serving the community radio movement. Its goal is to support and contribute
to the development of community and participatory radio along the principals
of solidarity and international cooperation. All continents are represented
on AMARC's Board of Directors.
The Benton Foundation's Communications Policy and
Practice Project is a nonpartisan initiative to strengthen public interest
efforts in shaping the emerging National Information Infrastructure (NII)
in the United States. It is Benton's conviction that the vigorous participation
of the nonprofit sector in policy debates and demonstration projects will
help realize the public interest potential of the NII. The Benton divides
its work into two areas: policy and practice.
4727 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 403, Los Angeles, CA 90010
Telephone (323) 931-4177 ----- Fax (323) 931-4474
The Center for Media Literacy is dedicated to a
new vision of literacy for the 21st century: the ability to communicate
competently in all media forms, print and electronic, as well as to access,
understand, analyze and evaluate the powerful images, words and sounds
that make up our contemporary mass media culture. The Center believes that
the skills of media literacy are essential to our health as individuals
and as members of a democratic society. The Center's mission is to bring
media literacy education to every child, every school and every home in
North America.
4834 N. Springfield, Chicago, IL 60625
el: 773-583-7728 Fax: 773-583-7738
E.mail: alex2051@xsite.net
The Chiapas Media Project began in a small hut
in an Indian village in Chiapas, Mexico. Video artists from the United
States sat down with indigenous leaders and, through a two hour discussion
over coffee and warm tortillas, the project was born. During the meeting,
the community described in poignant terms their disgust with the presentation
of their lives to the outside world. Anthropologists, reporters and government
officials paid numerous visits to the community, then told the world their
own version of the truth. The Indians often didn't recognize their own
community in these versions, yet people from outside often made decisions
about them based on this faulty and misleading information. Since then,
U.S. and Mexican activists have been collaborating with training and video
equipment so that Indian communities can produce their own videos.
CCIA c/o Networking For Democracy
3411 W. Diversey, Suite 1, Chicago, Il 60647.
Telephone 312-384-8827
The Goals of CCIA include: to assure democratic
freedoms such as freedom to communicate, protection of privacy, civic participation,
including access to information about government and public institutions;
to help public institutions develop affordable access points to ensure
full public access; to pursue institutions for sponsorship of civic networks
and community computer centers (the Coalition believes that these access
points must be convenient to all local residents, including persons with
disabilities and persons with non-traditional schedules); to support efforts
that seek to create collaborative mechanisms within Community Based Organizations
that will afford cooperative learning sites; to facilitate local organizing
efforts and encourage full participation of new and existing community
groups and other expressions of popular interest, need and support; to
develop and encourage legislative initiatives that advance the Coalition's
aims and provide material support for these goals.
Catholic University of Brussels
Faculty of Political and Social Sciences
Department of Communication
Vrijheidslaan 17
B-1081 Brussels
Belgium
ph. +32-2-4124.247
fx. +32-2-4124.200
E-mail Rico.Lie@kubrussel.ac.be
This is the homepage of the research centre Communication for Social Change (CSC) which is based at the Catholic University of Brussels (K.U. Brussel). Only general information is available.
PO Box 7037
Syracuse, NY 13210
(315) 423-4783
(CMAG) is a collective devoted to aiding and promoting
the production and dissemination of independent, grassroots media in the
Central New York area. Its mission is to challenge the mainstream and status
quo by seeking and sharing information on a free basis. The Media Action
Group helps individuals and organizations create and propagate dynamic
media, including print, radio, video and electronic.
The Direct Action Media Network (DAMN!) is a multi-media
news service that covers direct actions that progressive organizations
and individuals take to attain a peaceful, open and enlightened society.
DAMN places its coverage of social justice actions into both historical
and contemporary context so that any audience will find the events and
issues covered accessible. The group operates as a non-hierarchical democratic
institution to ensure that its operations reflect and augment the values
of the projects and actions it reports. DAMN accepts as an affiliate any
media outlet, social justice organization, or individual reporter who agrees
to provide or disburse news for the service.
The Development, Culture and Communication (DECCO)
Network is a research and information network aimed at promoting (a) liaison
between organizations, researchers, academics, development and communication
practitioners and others who work within the DECCO field, (b) the dissemination
of information and (c) databases relevant to DECCO. The DECCO Network will
focus on Southern Africa, but will be linked internationally and involve
as many regional and international organizations as possible.
Devmedia began as an Internet listserve in 1994
to help with the exchange of information on "Media for Development and
Democracy." Now, with Devmedia Links! it has a web site component. List
members and Devmedia Links! users generally include people interested in
participatory and community uses of media: radio, video TV, and the Internet.
Here you will find information on the mailing list DEVMEDIA and how to subscribe to it. List members are participatory radio, video and TV practitioners working for the democratization of communication.
87 Lafayette St.
New York, NY 10013
e-mail: WEB@dctvny.org
phone: 1 (212) 966-4510
Founded in 1972, Downtown Community Television
Center believes that expanding public access to the electronic media arts
invigorates our democracy. For the past twenty-five years the Center has
pursued its grass-roots mission to teach people, particularly members of
low-income and minority communities, to produce insightful and artistic
television. "From humble beginnings -- our first educational projects operated
from the back of a dilapidated mail truck -- we have gradually established
a community-based foothold within an art form dominated by large corporations.
In our landmark firehouse home in New York City in Chinatown, individuals
who could not otherwise afford a media arts education, much less the sophisticated
equipment needed to produce television, gain access to at-cost classes
as well as the most advanced cameras and editing systems available."
ALAI
Casilla 17-12-877, Quito - Ecuador.
Phone (593-2) 505074
Fax. 505073
E.mail comunicacion@ecuanex.net.ec
On the International Forum on Communication and
Citizenship, held in San Salvador, El salvador, 9-11 September 1998.
Under construction
401 Richmond Street West Suite 452
Toronto, Ontario
M5V 3A8
CANADA
Phone: 416-351-1317
Fax: 416-351-1509
Email: video@astral.magic.ca
Igloolik Isuma Productions Inc. was founded in 1988 by former employees of Inuit Broadcasting Corporation, seeking more independence, opportunity and Inuit control over Inuktitut television. Isuma's mission is to create skilled jobs and sustainable economic development for Inuit in Igloolik and Nunavut by producing independent professional media products from an Inuit point of view. Its programs are designed to preserve, enhance and represent Inuit culture to Inuit and non-Inuit audiences worldwide, with the highest artistic qualities of production and entertainment in Inuit language and style. By doing this Isuma hopes to advance Inuit objectives in several areas at the same time: culture, language, contemporary art, economic development and politics, to enable Inuit to gain more control over their land and future, and over the ways Inuit are represented in worldwide media.
77 Federal Street, 2nd floor, San Francisco, CA 94107
Phone: (415) 284-1420 | fax: (415) 284-1414
IMI is a nonprofit organization dedicated to strengthening
and supporting independent and alternative journalism, and to improving
the public's access to independent information sources. IMI believe that
democracy is enhanced, and public debate broadened, as more voices are
heard and points of view made available.
1111 East Madison
Seattle WA 98122
E.mail: citizen@speakeasy.org
The Information Subway is a clearinghouse hub for
independent media in the service of participatory self-government and democracy.
P.O. Box 55
Prince St. Station
New York, NY 10012
Phone: 212-343-9335
Fax: 212-343-9337
E.mail: dyketv@echonyc.com
Dyke TV is a half-hour bi-weekly television program produced by lesbians, for lesbians. "Dyke TV mixes news, political commentary, the arts, health, sports, and much more to present lesbian lives-in all our variety-with intelligence and humor." Since its debut in Manhattan on June 8, 1993, Dyke TV now airs in 66 cities across the United States.
For each weekly show, Dyke TV uses a magazine format-a
varied collection of short segments on different topics.
The IFEX Clearing House
489 College Street Suite 403
Toronto, Ontario
Canada, M6G 1A5
Phone: +1 416 515 9622
Fax: +1 416 515 7879
E-mail: ifex@ifex.org
This is the site of the International Freedom of
Expression eXchange (IFEX). IFEX operates as a Clearing House and receives
and provides information on freedom of expression to groups and individuals
around the world.
IMF is a democratic forum of networks and federations
that work towards ending economic exploitation and political domination,
through the undermining of empires and the creation of alternative social
structures that support diversity, egalitarianism and autonomy.
Independent Media
AlterNet
77 Federal Street, San Francisco, CA 94107
Telephone: 415 284 1420
Fax: 415 284 1414
E-mail: khayes@alternet.or
The Institute advocates for diversity of independent
voices in the media and helps facilitate collaborations and campaigns to
foster media democracy.
(LAAMN) is a network of journalists in print, radio,
video, TV, film, as well as Internet publishers, photographers, musicians,
artists, and media watch activists who have come together to develop a
strong presence for the independent, alternative media in Los Angeles.
Through cross-collaboration, LAAMN intends to reach a wide audience with
a progressive message and report on the developing social, political, and
cultural movements of the time, providing a 'voice for the voiceless' throughout
the Southland.
This is the site of the MacBride roundtable and
provides information on itself and related activities.
537 West 59th Street,
New York, NY 10019.
phone. 212-757-2670
fax. 212-757-1603
MNN is responsible for administering the public
access cable television services in Manhattan. MNN holds workshops in television
production for Manhattan residents; offers special group workshops in television
production for non-profit community organizations based in Manhattan; provides
access to television production equipment to produce public access programs,
and gives Revolving Fund Grants to assist non-profit Manhattan community
based organizations in providing training and support to community video
producers, as well as individual production grants for community programming.
MED Broadcasting Ltd.
The Linen Hall
162-168 Regent Street
London W1R 5AT
England
Tel: +44 (0)171 494 2523
Fax: +44 (0)171 494 2528
e-mail (London): medtvlondon@compuserve.com
e-mail (Brussels): medtv@netscape.net
MED-TV is an innovative satellite channel, broadcasting
to Kurdish communities all over Europe, the Middle East and North Africa.
It is the only international television station to offer a complete schedule
of Kurdish-language programming, to a potential audience of 35 million
Kurds across the globe, and aims to assist in the development of the cultural
identity of the Kurdish people and the Kurdish language, celebrating the
rich cultural diversities within.
Media Alliance, at WNET/Thirteen,
450 West 33rd Street,
New York, New York 10001;
phone: (212) 560-2919;
E.mail: mediaall@wnet.org,
Media Alliance is a nonprofit membership organization
dedicated to advancing independent media - video, film, audio, radio, and
computers - in New York State by expanding resources, support, and audiences
for the media arts.
Under construction
The Media Channel will provide news, analysis,
information, discourse and resources about the media worldwide. It will
carry media stories and features from a wide array of newspapers. magazines
and web site. It will aggregate content from NGO's, not-for-profit groups,
professional associations, academic journals, and media monitors, with
contributions from critics, researchers, educators, journalists, columnists,
scholars, activists, citizens and media consumers.
The New York Free Media Alliance is a regional
coalition working to increase democracy and public space in local and national
media. Its mission is to free the local mass media from domination by commercial,
government and elite interests who censor or distort information vital
to the communities. It seeks to encourage and nurture the development of
mass and alternative media that give access to, are accountable to, and
accurately reflect all of the people in our communities. It works to form
links with other local media networks, in this country and around the world,
in the spirit of Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
One World Media Center accomplishes its mission
by offering training in TV production, by providing direct access to TV
production equipment, by serving as an educational and vocational resource,
and by facilitating distribution of community productions locally, nationally
and internationally. One World Media Center is also a leader in exploring
the convergence of video, computers, multimedia, and the Internet, and
is planning to provide digital video cameras and digital editing suites
to community members.
The Open Channels web site supports Public Access
Television in Sweden. It also includes international links related to the
local and global movement for the Freedom of Speech.
OCLCC's mission is to contribute to a more fair
and just society and toward this goal the organization develops networks
among organizations working toward the democratization of communication
in Latin America and the Caribbean, such as educational radios, community
radios, women's organizations, and grassroots organizations. Links to media
organizations in different Latin American countries.
The Panos Institute has as a goal to promote the
development of democratic forms of culture and debate, in the general perspective
of sustainable and equitable development. The PANOS Institute implements
several projects on media and democracy.
PTTV is a public access television show. PTTV is
shown regularly on public access channels in Manhattan, San Francisco and
elsewhere, which ensures both a prime-time audience of channel grazers
and the possibility of developing a loyal viewership over time. Taking
advantage of this uncensored air-time, PTTV developed its series of "readings"
of mass media. A friendly name for detailed analysis, "reading" a publication
or program means taking it apart, sometimes page-by-page or scene-by-scene,
exploring links between its production, its audience and its sponsors.
While exposing the hidden ideologies in commercial television, film, advertisements
and print media, Paper Tiger also aims to disrupt the TV beliefs of its
viewers.
The Participatory Communication Research Network
(PCRN) is, both through its Newsletter (published in English, French and
Spanish) and individual contacts, in touch with more than 500 researchers
in different parts of the world. The work of the Participatory Communication
Research Section/Network (PCRN) is not based on any specific definition
of participation. Rather, participation is a term used to refer to a number
of social and planning processes occurring in many different places andin
many different contexts.
By Prof. Dr. Cees J. Hamelink
The People's Communication Charter is an initiative of the Third World Network (Penang, Malaysia) and the Centre for Communication & Human Rights (Amsterdam, the Netherlands). Basic to the initiative is the observation that across the world
people face pervasive forms of censorship, distorted
and misleading information, stereotyped images of gender and race, restricted
access to knowledge, and insufficient channels to communicate their ideas
and opinions. This Charter provides the common framework for all those
who share the belief that people should be active and critical participants
in their social reality and capable of governing themselves.
At a meeting held in London from October 31st to
November 1st, a group of NGOs involved in media and communication agreed
on a common platform to cooperate together on issues of mutual concern.
The meeting, which was organised and hosted by WACC with the MacBride Round
Table, was a small, informal, gathering to explore, among a manageable
group, the possibilities for and practicalities of cooperation. Groups
represented were: AMARC, APC, Article 19, Catholic Media Council, PANOS
London, People's Communication Charter, Communication for Social Change
(KUB), International Women's Tribune Centre, MacBride Round Table, UNDA/OSIC,
Vidéazimut, WACC, Worldview International, and Zebra. This web site
explains their platform.
The Prometheus Radio Project is a group of microbroadcasters
from New York and Philadelphia who are initiating a microradio resource
center to which broadcasters can turn for technical and legal support to
start a station. The group borrows its name from the Greek mythological
character who disobeyed the gods in order to share use of fire with humanity.
In that spirit, The Prometheus Radio Project seeks to help ordinary people
claim a piece of the ether that big corporations dominate and control.
Information from Radio Netherlands on different
radio and communication related issues is available in many different languages.
The site can be searched and includes Real Audio Broadcasts.
Taking the Zapatista struggle as a point of departure,
a working group of the Encuentro por la Humanidad y contra el Neo-Liberalismo
organized by the Zapatistas in La Realidad, Mexico, studies the possibility
of an intercontinental network of alternative communication.
Street-Level Youth Media educates Chicago's inner-city
youth in media arts and emerging technologies for use in self-expression,
communication and social change. Street-Level's programs build self-esteem
and critical thinking skills for urban youth who have been historically
neglected by policy makers and mass media. Using video production, computer
art and the Internet, Street-Level's young people address community issues,
access advanced communication technology and gain inclusion in our information-based
society.
The Society for Old and New Media is a cultural
research and development center for communications technology. Central
to the Society's aims is the development of technological applications
for the cultural and social expression of groups and individuals. Designers,
software engineers, artists and scientists work together closely within
the Society for Old and New Media, and for projects, collaboration is sought
with partners in the social sector, the educational field and trade and
industry. The Waag building, which houses the Society, has a Media lab,
a monumental conference theatre - the 17th century Theatrum Anatomicum
- and a restaurant-cafe in which the Reading Table for Old and New Media
is located.
see also http://www.tmcrew.org/ (in Italy)
Tactical media do not just report or describe events
, nor do they claim to be objective or neutral. "We are not observers.
We are participants. We do not restrict ourselves to the symbolic. Tactical
Media are about *real action* which requires the responsibility to act
on ones propositions and suffer the consequences or reap the benefits."
The UDC is a group of activists and academics who promote people-based, not-so-corporate ways of talking to each other.
Videazimut is an international non-governmental coalition promoting audiovisual
communication for development and democracy.
The main purpose of this web site is to deepen
mutual awareness between the alternative media movement organizations and
to establish better conditions for everyday solidarity on a global level.
Although the media movement for democratic society has progressed since
the 1980s, and although there are many web sites concerning these activities,
there is no overall directory site which links information from all over
the world, and Videomove is trying to fill this void.
The World Association for Christian Communication (WACC) is an international voluntary, organization established by communicators who wish to give high priority to Christian values in the world's communication and development needs.