Media Mouse is pleased to announce that the Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy (GRIID) has become a part of Media Mouse. GRIID is an invaluable addition to Media Mouse and complements the work we have done historically in providing independent reporting on events and issues in West Michigan by providing a wealth of knowledge and resources through which we can continue to challenge the corporate media and expand our use of media as an organizing tool.
GRIID will continue to do the work that it did previously through the Grand Rapids Community Media Center, including providing workshops and trainings. With GRIID's move to the Media Mouse site, the following resources have been added to the site:
Dissecting the Local News - Dissecting the Local News will feature ongoing deconstructions of stories run in the corporate media, featuring the text or transcripts of stories placed side-by-side with analysis about how the media framed the story, what they excluded from their coverage, and what could be improved. There are already analyses of 227 stories online.
Who Owns the Media in Grand Rapids? - This section looks at media ownership in West Michigan and contains a regularly updated list of the corporations that own the print, television, and radio outlets in the area in addition to tracking the ownership of book publishers, movie theaters, billboards, and video rentals.
GRIID Reports - Reports produced by GRIID looking at a variety of issues, including race representation, elections, and war and how they are covered in the local corporate media are now available on Media Mouse.
Media Activist Toolkit - GRIID's Media Activist Toolkit, a five part booklet designed to help organizations in Grand Rapids make effective use of the media.
Local Media Directory - The Local Media Directory is a regularly updated list of contacts for media outlets in Grand Rapids. It is maintained in order to help organizations in West Michigan make more effective use of the media.
FCC License Renewal Guide - GRIID's FCC License Renewal Guide is now online and provides a number of resources to both challenge the FCC license renewal process for local television stations and to use such a campaign as an organizing tool.
Election Watch - GRIID's two years of its Election Watch project--2004 and 2006--are online and offer a complete archive of all election coverage printed or aired in West Michigan during the 2004 and 2006 elections along with analysis of each story.
Along with the content with the media related content from GRIID's website, Media Mouse is also now hosting the Progressive Directory of Western Michigan. The Progressive Directory is a categorized and searchable listing of more than 90 groups working for social change in West Michigan. The Directory allows individuals and groups to collaborate on organizing efforts, and post events, campaigns, and resources online. In the coming months Media Mouse will be doing some work to improve the directory, but for now it remains and incredibly important resource that should provide our readers with a means through which they can get involved in many of the struggles that we write about on a daily basis.
