[Imc-newsroom] goals

[Danielle Chynoweth]

Sascha and I began to list our possible venues so the Newsgroup can set
some goals and them recruit staff to meet these goals.  We then
brainstormed outreach ideas.  I've added outreach ideas we came up with
last week.

- danielle

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IMC NEWS GROUP PROPOSED GOALS:

To produce content for the following upcoming venues:

1. WEFT COURIER
5 minutes of local news dropped in during the afternoon and morning
couriers.  Timely news would be delivered every weekday afternoon and the
same news clips rebroadcast the next morning.
- delivered over the web every day by noon.
- we will need to charge for regular service for it to be sustainable
- 25 hours of work / week
- 10 staff members

2. WEFT FRIDAY FORUM
The IMC will be a clearinghouse for the Friday Forum slot all summer.
Community members who want to produce content for this slot can do so
through the IMC using our equipment, personnel, and expertise, if
necessary.
- a point person for each show + 2-3 support staff per show
- 10 hours or recording and editing per show.
- format - week in review of news + 40 min feature + 5 min IMC explanation

3. WEFT LABOR HOUR
The IMC will contribute regular pieces to the labor hour working as
support staff for Labor Hour hosts Peter Miller and Bill Gorrell.
- 2-3 support staff for the labor hour
- ask WEFT for telephone interface as condition for staffing shows

4. WILL WITH JASON CROFT
The IMC will contribute content for 3rd Saturday 3 PM shows in May.  The
focus of content will be on local art and cultural events.
- minimum 3 staff - one per show working with Jason from concept to finish

5. CHAMBANA ECOFLASH
The IMC will collaborate with ISEN, the Permaculture Group, and Urbana
Planning
- additional staff as needed

6. OCTOPUS
The IMC will provide a weekly column for the Octopus.
- Octopus will fund IMC for regular columns (find how much Octopus pays
for Alternet)
OR
- the IMC will produce its own newsletter and work with the Octopus to
have it be an insert distributed widely with the Octopus.

7. BLACK THOUGHT
The IMC will provide regular content for Black Thought (which is in
financial crisis right now and needs our help).

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Outreach Ideas:

- Publicize IMC in journalism classes at UI, Parkland, and High Schools

- Invite progressive organizations to have people producing news about
their organizations' interests for the IMC.  We'll do this by having IMC
liaison's go to organizations, pass out IMC info, and circulate contact
sheets for interested members, donors, journalists, and volunteers. (All
working groups)

- IMC get residency at Allen Hall (Danielle is working on a proposal for
laura haber who likes the idea)

- Make IMC campus group - UI-IMC - as a subset of UC-IMC

- Visit writing groups - Channing Murrary, Newspoets, etc

- Letter inviting people to tell their stories and post at our website.
Post to site that stories may be broadcast daily (as an incentive to
post).

- pass out business cards everywhere

- never record anything without creating a wrap (short summary) which can
act as a news headline as well as a description to be stored with the disc

- do an IMC version of WEFT's airshifter training - require IMC membership
for training

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Beginnings of a Proposal for IMC Local News on WEFT

Who
The Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center which provides equipment and
training for over 200 members to create news.

What
Local news coverage focused on issues or points of views not covered or
represented in the corporate press.

Where
5 minute drop-ins every afternoon, rebroadcast the next morning.

Why
To provide WEFT with consistent, daily local news coverage.