[Imc] new newspaper

[john karl wilson]

I'd be happy to meet with you, if any of you are up in Chicago. I will be
going to Bloomington-Normal sometime in late June or July to do more work
on the paper and start selling ads, so I could easily make a trip to C-U
then. 

Part of the question may be how quickly you want to pull this together. I
would emphasize that students are crucial, and I've heard that you guys
have a stronger community base than a campus base (which can be a good
thing, too). You may want to even consider doing the newspaper as a
student organization, if you can get resources and access that
way--although that has its own pitfalls. But it would be good to work with
a student group if you don't already, so you can recruit students at
orientation fair, etc. And it might be worth trying to find out the level
of interest from students before they escape for the summer.

One option you do have is to start small, and build up--that is, start
doing a four-page 8 1/2 x 11 newsletter on somebody else's copy machine,
just to get your existence known. However, there's a danger of starting
small and trying to impress advertisers and writers, etc., with an
inferior product.

John K. Wilson

On Thu, 3 May 2001, Danielle Chynoweth wrote:

> John,
> 
> Thank you for your words of support and your offer of advice to get an
> indy press off the ground in CU.
> 
> I excited about our group's ability to work well together, collectivize
> our individual equipment for common benefit, and train each other in media
> production skills.
> 
> Our weekly print group discussions start today.  Hopefully out of these
> discussions we can put togther a viable business plan.
> 
> We would love to pick your brain about indy presses - the sooner the
> better.  Will you be near CU any time before August?  If we make a trip to
> Chicago, could we meet with you?  If we paid for your trip down, would you
> be willing to come speak with us?
> 
> Please do tell,
> 
> danielle chynoweth
> CU -IMC
> 
> 
> On Mon, 30 Apr 2001, john karl wilson wrote:
> 
> > I want to congratulate Urbana Indymedia on all the great work you're
> > doing. You should really come up with a guide for other indymedias in
> > small cities to imitate you. Even Chicago Indymedia is trying to catch up
> > (it does launch its first radio show today, Mon 4/30 at 9:30am on
> > WLUW, www.wluw.org).
> >
> > I'm the editor of the newsletter for Chicago Media Watch and commentary
> > editor at StreetWise Chicago, but I wanted to email your list because I'm
> > moving to Normal and starting a new Bloomington-Normal alternative weekly
> > newspaper in August. I'm a big advocate of the left starting mass media to
> > reach a larger audience, and I read your discussion on a print version of
> > Indymedia. I think you folks should plan seriously about starting
> > a weekly newspaper in C-U, even if the Octopus manages to survive--and
> > certainly work to start an anti-corporate replacement for the Octopus.
> >
> > I can give you all the details on how to start an alternative paper (I've
> > co-founded the University of Chicago Free Press and Chicago Ink in the
> > past), and ideally we could share articles and resources (I'm hoping that
> > Urbana Indymedia can provide some articles for the B-N paper in any
> > case). I would emphasize that doing an alternative newspaper profitably
> > without sacrificing your values is not as difficult as you might think,
> > and the impact is enormous: consider the opportunity to reach 10,000
> > people weekly with the info you think is important, and you'll realize
> > that it's worth the time and energy.
> >
> > I'd be happy to help you with suggestions and some of the logistics (once
> > I get this paper up and running), and I'd certainly appreciate suggestions
> > about what we're doing in Bloomington-Normal, stories we should cover,
> > people I should contact. I can send you a more detailed memo on how to
> > start a newspaper, or communicate directly with the print group.
> >
> > Thanks,
> > John K. Wilson
> > (former Daily Illini columnist)
> > author, How the Left Can Win Arguments and Influence People: A
Tactical
> > Manual for Pragmatic Progressives (august, NYU Press)
> >
> >
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> >
>