International Independent Media: who pays?
Paul Treanor | 19.01.2002 12:34
As part of the up-coming World Social Forum there will be an 'international media exchange', Ciranda. This is what they say about themselves
http://www.ciranda.net/publique/cgi/public/cgilua.exe/web/templates/htm/0ingles/view.htm?infoid=17&user=reader&editionsectionid=2
"There has probably never been such a dramatic need to build alternatives to market-oriented journalism as now, on the eve of the II World Social Forum....recent years have been marked by the multiplication of independent information systems and by the use they make of the Internet. At two very special moments - the I FSM, in January 2001, and the Genoa Social Forum, in August - this ebullience took new shape. Major networks of independent publications emerged which were able to circulate ...the reliable information that the commercial media insisted on ignoring or denying. From January 31 to February 5, 2002, that flame is going to ignite again. The 2nd International Independent Information Exchange is coming."
That certainly sounds radical and alternative, doesn't it? But look who is paying for this initiative, through its sponsor the Inter Press Agency...
- Canadian International Development Agency -
- Carl-Duisberg-Gesellschaft (Germany)
- Charles Stewart Mott Foundation (USA)
- Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs
- European Commission
- Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs
- Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
- Ford Foundation (USA)
- Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (Germany)
- German Ministry for Economic Development and Cooperation
- Group of 77, G77
- International Labour Organisation
- Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
- John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
- Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs
- Netherlands Organization for International Development Cooperation
- North-South Centre, Council of Europe
- Norwegian Agency for Development, NORAD
- Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
- Student Union, Helsinki University
- Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency
- UNICEF
- U.N. Development Fund for Women, UNIFEM
- U.N. Development Programme, UNDP
- UNESCO
- U.N. Environment Programme, UNEP
- U.N. Population Fund,UNFPA
- W. Alton Jones Foundation (USA)
from:
http://www.ips.org/IPS/partners.htm
Note that the Italian Foreign Ministry is now in the hands of premier Berlusconi himself, and he is one of the world's richest media magnates. So far from being the radical oalternative to the mainstream media, the Ciranda initiative is its indirect instrument. And the instrument of mainstrem politicians: the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung is the think-tank of Chancellor Schroeder's SPD.
Expect censorship: it's policy at the World Social Forum anyway.
http://www.ciranda.net/publique/cgi/public/cgilua.exe/web/templates/htm/0ingles/view.htm?infoid=17&user=reader&editionsectionid=2 "There has probably never been such a dramatic need to build alternatives to market-oriented journalism as now, on the eve of the II World Social Forum....recent years have been marked by the multiplication of independent information systems and by the use they make of the Internet. At two very special moments - the I FSM, in January 2001, and the Genoa Social Forum, in August - this ebullience took new shape. Major networks of independent publications emerged which were able to circulate ...the reliable information that the commercial media insisted on ignoring or denying. From January 31 to February 5, 2002, that flame is going to ignite again. The 2nd International Independent Information Exchange is coming."
That certainly sounds radical and alternative, doesn't it? But look who is paying for this initiative, through its sponsor the Inter Press Agency...
- Canadian International Development Agency -
- Carl-Duisberg-Gesellschaft (Germany)
- Charles Stewart Mott Foundation (USA)
- Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs
- European Commission
- Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs
- Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
- Ford Foundation (USA)
- Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (Germany)
- German Ministry for Economic Development and Cooperation
- Group of 77, G77
- International Labour Organisation
- Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
- John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
- Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs
- Netherlands Organization for International Development Cooperation
- North-South Centre, Council of Europe
- Norwegian Agency for Development, NORAD
- Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
- Student Union, Helsinki University
- Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency
- UNICEF
- U.N. Development Fund for Women, UNIFEM
- U.N. Development Programme, UNDP
- UNESCO
- U.N. Environment Programme, UNEP
- U.N. Population Fund,UNFPA
- W. Alton Jones Foundation (USA)
from:
http://www.ips.org/IPS/partners.htm Note that the Italian Foreign Ministry is now in the hands of premier Berlusconi himself, and he is one of the world's richest media magnates. So far from being the radical oalternative to the mainstream media, the Ciranda initiative is its indirect instrument. And the instrument of mainstrem politicians: the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung is the think-tank of Chancellor Schroeder's SPD.
Expect censorship: it's policy at the World Social Forum anyway.
Paul Treanor
e-mail:
p.treanor@chello.nl
Comments
Hide the following 2 comments
Great!! Look at ... and maybe you are right..
19.01.2002 21:02
BND
Challenge: 209c 8977 acfc 2fc1 82e6 fb37 d616 4314
Charles
e-mail:
cee@post.com
Homepage:
http://www.e-u-r-o-p-e.org
blagging - a pillar of activism
20.01.2002 15:23
Are you arguing that the whole project is corrupted because it is sponsored by dominant organisations?
Then I disagree.
I don't think that the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, the Carl Duisberg Gesellschaft, the European Comission and the Helsinki Students are a homogenous block in conspiracy.
If the Culture Branche of the German Social Democrats is prepared to give money to projects we can work with, like the Genoa Social Forum, fine. Corruption starts when we change our agenda because of the money we get.
Blagging is a pillar of activism. Skillful blagging. Using the computers at work to design leaflets. Liberating tat. applying for grants. And as soon as they demand a change of direction, throw them back.
Isn't it amusing if capitalism itself funds the forces that will replace it?
Only an oppinion...
olive
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