[IMC-US] letter to yes magazine

[sing and dance!]

hi just wrote this....
wonder if anyone wanted to add/suggest/sign on or whatever...
in reference to current issue of yes! magazine
http://www.yesmagazine.org/

what i wrote:

Dear Editors of Yes! Magazine:

Well, I must say I am quite surprised.  Returning home from the first national
conference of the Independent Media Center (Indymedia) network, I found the
latest issue of Yes! magazine waiting in my mailbox, with a picture of Amy
Goodman on the cover, and a focus on alternative media!  'Great!'  I thought to
myself, 'a continuation of the work we did all weekend' -- laughing a little at
the coincidence of having just talked to Amy in person at the conference, and
then seeing her face on the front of the magazine.  But as I flipped through
the magazine, looking for the discussion of the Indymedia phenomenon, it
just......wasn't.....there!  Thinking maybe I missed it, I flipped back through
several times....strange, it wasn't even in the list of 'Media Resources' -- the
only mentions of Indymedia were in a film review of 'Independent Media in a Time
of War', produced by the Hudson-Mohawk Independent Media Center in New York, and
a note in the article about DeeDee Halleck mentioning she was a founding member.
 Was the omission a conscious choice on the part of the editors, or was this
appalling absence simply an oversight?

The glaring absence of an article on Indymedia in an issue about alternative
media is especially surprising due to the fact that Indymedia, as a movement,
is fast becoming the most accessible and usable tool for media democracy
worldwide.  Since the founding of Indymedia at the protests against the World
Trade Organization talks in Seattle in 1999, Independent Media Centers have
sprouted up all over the globe -- at last count, there were over 150.  The
idea?  Simply to make it possible and easy for people to publish their own
photos, audio, video and writing for a global audience, without editors,
administrative hierarchies or spin.  This 'open publishing' occurs on a
website, www.indymedia.org or a local Indymedia site, and from there stories
are featured, used on radio programs, print publications, local television
broadcasts...the possibilities are endless, and continue to grow, as the
Indymedia centers themselves continue to grow.

Hopefully your readers will add Indymedia to their list of alternative media
resources, and connect with (or start) their own local Independent Media Center
wherever they are (a current list of all the local sites is available on the
global site: www.indymedia.org).

jenka soderberg
dc indymedia
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http://www.jenkasjourneys.org

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