Democracy Now Petition Presented to WYCE and WGVU

On May 20, 12 people attended the Community Media Center's (CMC) monthly board meeting to present to them a proposal that they air Democracy Now! on their radio station, WYCE. The group delivered a petition circulated by Mediamouse.org with nearly 600 signatures of people who want to have Democracy Now broadcast five days a week between the hours of 7am and 10pm. All of those who came advocating for Democracy Now! addressed the CMC board and gave a variety of reasons why it would be beneficial to broadcast this program in West Michigan.

The only question that was asked by the CMC board was "It is safe to say the Democracy Now is left leaning in its political orientation. What do you think we should do if after agreeing to air that show, someone else comes in and asks us to air a show that is politically to the right?" The response was that "if you are a community radio station you should consider all programming ideas that come from the community. However, in this case, you could also say that in looking at the spectrum of talk radio shows that already exist in this market, there seems to be an abundance of politically right shows and virtually no programs that could be considered progressive."

Since the CMC board did not have enough members present to make any decisions, the issue was tabled until their next meeting on June 17. The group of 12 have requested to be put on the agenda for June 17 and are encouraging others to send e-mails to the Executive Director of the CMC, Laurie Cirivello laurie@grcmc.org.

This campaign is also asking for WGVU, channel 35 to air Democracy Now!, but since they have no local board structure and there are no local open meetings, 2 people involved in the campaign delivered copies of the petition signatures to the station manager that same week.

Mediamouse.org Amy Goodman Fundraiser a Success

175 people attended the Amy Goodman fundraiser at Plymouth Congregational Church in May. If you missed the lecture and want to see it, Mediamouse.org is selling copies on DVD in our new online store:

http://www.mediamouse.org/store/

You can also purchase a bunch of other lectures on DVD by folks such as Ray McGovern, Andrea Smith, Robert Jensen, and Vandana Shiva. Proceeds from the sales help support Mediamouse.org

Michigan RNC Consulta this Weekend

Unconventional Michigan is hosting a statewide consulta for folks planning to attend the upcoming protests against the Republican National Convention (RNC) in the Twin Cities. The consulta will take place on Saturday (June 14) at the NorthStar Center in Lansing (106 Lathrop St) at 9am. There will be workshops on independent media, blockades, direct action, legal, and health and safety. Mediamouse.org is doing the workshop on independent media, drawing on our experience covering the RNC protests in 2004 and our experience generally as media activists. We'll be talking a bit about plans for independent coverage of the RNC protests as well as discussing the question of when--and if--it is appropriate for radicals to communicate only within movement media.

For more information, visit:

http://uamichigan.wordpress.com

Canary Effect Screening - June 25

Mediamouse.org is co-sponsoring another film showing this month with The Bloom Collective. This month we're showing THE CANARY EFFECT, a really well put together documentary about the genocide of Native Americans and the ongoing effects of colonialism. The film will be shown at 8:00pm at The DAAC (115 S Division Ave) on June 25. Admission is $2, but no one will be turned away for a lack of funds.