them's crazy folk

a member of indy media spoke to us in class today about the role of "anarchist" journalism. i'm still puzzling over that word - it wasn't something he could really put his finger on either. something like anti-corporate, anti-capitalist, anti-government. but just a quick glance through the site proves that's not the case, clearly. not anti-goverment- in fact, indy media rages against the _lack_ of government regulations in many areas - environmental protection and social justice, for starters.

i would like to suggest "grassroots" journalism as an alternative. by the people, for the people. no corporate media. i'm impressed. there is clearly a role for such an organization. when an event happens, a protest, demonstration, these people are on the street, taking pictures, taking videos, recording people's voices. journalists at big-time papers get stories from the site. our professor, a star ap press reporter, confronted a mayor at a demonstration that denied allegations of police brutality with images clearly showing the opposite.

the indy media guy that spoke to us made no bones about it - the content is not edited for content or checked for accuracy. in away, that's cool. it's completely raw, unshaped. in another way, that's not so cool. it's pretty easy to fake something. hopefully no one is getting their news only from that organization or they are likely to have a very skewed perspective of the world. the content is pretty self editing- it's way left, and not a lot in between.

he threw around some orwellian phrases as well which i wish i could remember or had written down. let's just say i raised my eyebrow a few times. he kept trying to recruit us, too. while i see the value in what he and those like him do and apreciate it, i envision for myself a different role in journalism entirely.