Media Reclamation Project

In this update:
1) next meeting
2) current projects
3) media resources

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Please pass this email on to anyone who might be interested in media activism!
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1) Next Meeeting …

… is Thursday, March 13 at 6:30pm
OPIRG-Ottawa office, 631 King Edward, 3rd floor
email us if you’re interested but can’t make it

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2) Current Projects

At our last meeting we decided we’d get started on a couple new things: postering, a local media directory, and a speaker event combined with community consulation towards long-term planning.

Postering:

Here are links to a couple posters that you can print off, (copy) and post up – DIY!
Dominion Paper event March 6 – http://ottawa.indymedia.org/media/2008/02//7014.pdf
March event listings – http://ottawa.indymedia.org/media/2008/03//7030.pdf
Common Cause / Linchpin – http://ottawa.indymedia.org/media/2008/03//7028.pdf
We are also thinking of putting together a Media Matters poster, possibly to promote the mentioned speaker / long-term planning event. And maybe we could get a ‘postering squad’ together, maybe link forces with other local activists. If you’re interested in that kind of thing, contact us and we’ll see if we can organize something.

Local Media Directory

The starting point for this directory is a list from the Ottawa Public Library (compiled by the city?) of local print media. But it is maybe 5 years old, so we have some work to do. If you have any thoughts on this project, please contact us.

Speaker event / Long-term planning

The idea for this is to have an event, similar to our Nov20 Becoming a Citizen-Journalist, on a weeknight, and then on a following weekend afternoon have a strategy session where we do the work necessary to build a long-term strategic vision and plan. The speaker event might be about ‘Getting Media Coverage for your Cause’, and the planning session would involve outreach to local community groups and initiatives, also to other media activist groups in other cities, and could also include creating a survey or questionaire. Again, if you have any input or would like to help out, contact us!

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3) More media resources

After mentioning two magazines featuring media-focused editions (BriarPatch and Canadian Dimension) available in OPIRG-Ottawa’s resource centre, we received some feedback on additional resources also available here.

Magazines: Adbusters magazine also has features on media quite regularly, but they don’t have a full issue on the subject.

Books: Culture Jam, by Adbusters founder Kalle Lasn, as well as Manufacturing Consent, by Noam Chomsky, are both on the shelves. Also, there is the Project Censored series, an annual complition of important stories that didn’t get much attention in the mass media. And recently acquired is Gaining a Voice: Media Relations for Canadian Ethnic Minorities.

Movies: Manufacturing Consent is a resource centre holding, but is often out on loan. OutFoxed is also available. And so is Un Poquito de Tanta Verdad (A Little Bit of So Much Truth), the movie we hosted at Ottawa Cinema Politica about the role of media in the popular uprising in Oaxaco Mexico in 2006.

AND MOST IMPORTANTLY – if you have any ideas on magazines, books or movies that OPIRG should acquire for it’s resource centre, we urge you to contact Sarah, the resource centre coordinator, at opirgrc@gmail.com or 613-230-3076. She is always looking for good ideas!