--Email 1--
"Two short comments on this article:
First, unlike as in more traditional forms of massmedia, disagreements within the Indymedia newsnetwork are often out in the public domain. So, before seeing this as a representative comment of one of the problems with open
publishing, I recommend looking into the background of a story like this.

Second, Chuck0 is talking about the global site. That is only _one_ of the many Indymedia groups. There are now about 80 of them. I have not collected material from all the collectives, but I am know that each one of them has its own editorial policy and an own way of dealing with racism or other 'unwanted' articles and comments in the main newswire. Some are more pro free speech, and some are more restricted in what they 'allow' on the website.

My 5 cents.

greetz | Sara Platon


Quoting Jay Hamilton ( hamilton@ARCHES.UGA.EDU):
> Hi, all:
>
> Some interesting, current commentary on
> a prominent alternative-media project.
>
> ------------
>
> >Date: Mon, 9 Dec 2002 22:23:35 +0000 (UTC)
> >From: Art McGee
> >To:  activist@mediatank.org
> >Subject: [MediaAct] The Sad Decline of Indymedia
> >
> > http://www.infoshop.org/inews/stories.php?story=02/12/08/2553147
> >
> >posted by Reverend Chuck0 on Sunday December 08 2002 @ 10:35AM PST
> >
> >The Sad Decline of Indymedia

---REPLY: Email 2---

Hi, Sara (and list):

>Two short comments on this article:
>First, unlike as in more traditional forms of massmedia, disagreements within
>the Indymedia newsnetwork are often out in the public domain. So, before
>seeing this as a representative comment of one of the problems with open
>publishing, I recommend looking into the background of a story like this.

Agree absolutely (note my characterization of it as
commentary rather than fact).

>Second, Chuck0 is talking about the global site. That is only _one_ of the
>many Indymedia groups. There are now about 80 of them. I have not collected
>material from all the collectives, but I am know that each one of
>them has its own editorial policy and an own way of dealing with racism or
>other 'unwanted' articles and comments in the main newswire. Some are more
>pro free speech, and some are more restricted in what they 'allow' on the
>website.

This is an example of the kind of background you note
is needed--great.

>My 5 cents.

I agree it's worth much more than the proverbial 2 cents,
and certainly of more value than the 5 you give it, too :).

Any others on list who have other kinds of experiences
with Indymedia to reflect on this?
--

++++++++++++++++++++++++
Jay Hamilton
Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication
University of Georgia
Athens, GA 30602-3018
Tel 706.542.3556
Fax 706.542.2183
 http://www.arches.uga.edu/~hamilton/
++++++++++++++++++++++++