Other Media Resources

This is but a sampler of media activism, sources and organizing tools for progressive social change, organized into categories of activism, funding sources, media and technology centers, on-line resources, and film and video distributors.

Media Activism

Alliance for Community Media
www.alliancecm.org
The Alliance for Community Media is committed to assuring everyone's access to electronic media. The Alliance advances this goal through public education, a progressive legislative and regulatory agenda, coalition building and grassroots organizing.

Applied Research Center
www.arc.org
Publisher of ColorLines (www.colorlines.com), and RaceWire, serving the ethnic press with news, features and op-eds.

Association of Independent Video & Filmmakers
www.aivf.org
AIVF is the membership organization of independent video and filmmakers whose mission is to increase the creative and professional opportunities for independent video and filmmakers and to enhance the growth of independent media by providing services and resources, including informative seminars and networking events, access to group health and production insurance, advocacy for media arts issues, a public resource library, and publication of books and directories.

Democracy Now!
www.democracynow.org
Daily one hour “War and Peace Report” – the best in independent journalism covering national and international affairs hosted by award-winning journalist Amy Goodman – available on Pacifica and community radio, Free Speech TV, public access stations and their web site.

Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting
www.fair.org
FAIR, the national media watch group publishes Extra!, bi-monthly magazine of media criticism and disseminates their research through numerous special feature reports

Free Press
www.mediareform.net
Robert McChesney's latest organization to strengthen independent media and resist consolidation of media ownership; organizing important conference in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, November, 2003

Free Speech TV
www.freespeech.org
24 hour satellite television network presents daily broadcasts of Democracy Now!, organizes Mobile Eyes campaigns on peace and social justice issues and more!

Globalvision News Network
www.gvnews.net
News from around the world you won't find anywhere else

Independent Press Association
www.indypress.org
IPA amplifies the power of independent publications so as to foster a more just, open and democratic society. Has projects to support campus alternative journalism, ethnic press and offers technical assistance, training, advocacy and promotional efforts.

International Human Rights Watch Film Festival
www.humanrightswatch.org/iff/
The International Human Rights Watch Film Festival is the world's leading showcase for distinguished fiction, documentary and animated films and videos that incorporate human rights themes. With yearly festivals in New York and London, the Festival presents works that give a human face and personal viewpoints to threats against political and individual freedom.

Media that Matters
www.mediathatmatters.org
Building bridges, opening hearts, expanding minds between media makers and creatives in Canada and the United States; also see http://www.acrossborders.com

National Radio Project/International Media Project
www.radioproject.org
Producer of progressive independent weekly radio program Making Contact, with News Desks focused on Youth, Women, and the Environment; NRP programming is broadcast throughout the world.

National Video Resources
www.nvr.org
Assists in increasing the public's awareness of and access to independently produced media & film and video as well as motion media delivered through the new digital technologies; designs and implements projects that help enable individuals and organizations such as public libraries, colleges and universities, and other non-profits to acquire and use independent film and video. Also coordinates Viewing Race to give grassroots organizations, libraries, and other non-profits access to the best of independent films and other resources on the subject of race.

Paper Tiger TV
www.papertiger.org
Non-profit volunteer collective that has been pioneering media criticism through video and works to illuminate the role of media in our society, through the production and distribution of the Paper Tiger public access television series, as well as media literacy and hands on video production workshops and various advocacy and coalition work.

POV/The American Documentary
www.pbs.org/pov
As the preeminent showcase for our nation's boldest and most exciting independent non-fiction films, POV seeks to entertain, inform and connect citizens to ideas, services and each other. Also has the Diverse Voices Project to showcase emerging filmmakers working on minority issues to broaden the ethnic reach of public television.

Progressive Communicators Network
www.spiritinaction.net
Brings together media and public relations practitioners committed to increasing the power and reach of grassroots voices in the media and in the formation of public policy and opinion through national gatherings, regional gatherings and collaborative projects.

PR Watch
www.prwatch.org
Quarterly publication that focuses on Public Interest Reporting on the PR/Public Affairs industry from the Center of Media and Democracy. Authors of Weapons of Mass Deception and Toxic Sludge is Good for You; also available their free weekly online news compilation.

WITNESS
www.witness.org
Witness has pioneered the use of video and technology to fight for human rights by providing human rights activists throughout the United States and around the world with video cameras and technical and strategic guidance to incorporate video into their advocacy campaigns. Witness also assists activists in video productions, and ensures that the evidence generated gets international attention through courts, the media and the United Nations.

Working Films
www.workingfilms.org
Working Films is a new outreach and education organization that links independent filmmaking to citizen action. Their mission is to make award-winning film, video and multimedia production a key resource for national, statewide and local initiatives that expand economic opportunity, improve environmental quality and achieve social justice.

Youth Channel
www.youthchannel.org
National Youth Media Access Project initiated by Manhattan Neighborhood Network and piloted by four public access stations to increase youth media participation and empowerment through training, programming, leadership development and literacy activities.

Funding Sources

National Network of Grantmakers
www.nng.org
Network of individual and institutional grantmakers who support progressive philanthropy to fund organizing for social change. Publishes Grantmakers Directory and organizes donors and grantmakers to increase resources through Working Groups and Collaborations.

Benton Foundation
www.benton.org
The Benton Foundation has worked to realize the social benefits made possible by the public interest use of communications. Bridging the worlds of philanthropy, public policy and community action, Benton demonstrates and promotes the use of digital media to engage, equip and connect people to solve social problems.

The Funding Exchange
www.fex.org
Funding through the Media Justice Fund whose objective is to support work to shift the focus of media and telecommunications policies to reflect social justice values. The Media Justice Fund is supported by a two-year grant from the Ford Foundation. Also funds through The Paul Robeson Fund for Independent Media to support radio, film and video used as tools for social change organizing.

Grantmakers in the Arts
www.giarts.org
GIA aims to increase the presence of arts philanthropy within the broader foundation and policy making communities, thereby promoting more meaningful support of arts and culture.

Foundation Center
www.fdncenter.org

Independent Television Service (ITVS)
www.itvs.org
The Independent Television Service (ITVS) was established by Congress “to fund and present programming that involves creative risks and addresses the needs of under-served audiences.” While granting artistic control to the independent filmmaker, ITVS solicits, funds, packages, promotes and distributes work for broadcast primarily on American public television. Arts, Media and Technology Centers

The Bay Area Video Coalition
www.bavc.org
BAVC is the nation's largest noncommercial media arts center. Their mission is to address social issues, promote artistic expression, and support underserved populations by providing access to advanced media technology for the expansion of civic dialogue and equal opportunities in an era of ever increasing media consolidation and commercialization. They offer high-tech training and post-production facilities to help create cutting-edge, independent media.

Community Technology Centers' Network
www.ctcnet.org
Community Technology Centers' Network is a national, non-profit membership organization of more than one thousand independent community technology centers where people get free or low-cost access to and trainng with computers and computer-related technology, such as the Internet.

Media Alliance
www.media-alliance.org
Media Alliance is a 25-year-old nonprofit training and resource center for media workers, community organizations, and political activists. We publish MediaFile, the Bay Area's media review, and People Behind the News, a comprehensive guide to media outlets and journalists throughout the Bay Area; and we train hundreds of community organizations and activists every year in media and computer skills and media advocacy techniques.

NAMAC
www.namac.org
The National Alliance for Media Arts and Culture (NAMAC) is a nonprofit association composed of diverse member organizations who are dedicated to encouraging film, video, audio and online/multimedia arts, and to promoting the cultural contributions of individual media artists. NAMAC's regional and national members collectively provide a wide range of support services for independent media, including media education, production, exhibition, distribution, collection building, preservation, criticism and advocacy.

On-Line News and Resources

Allied Media Conference
http://alliedmediaconference.org
In every community, people are publishing their own zines, writing their own songs, and making their own movies. If you are one of these people, you are part of a chain reaction bringing the world better living through independent media; clamor.magazine sponsors the Allied Media Conference where hundreds of artists and media makers have convened to celebrate each other's work and to strengthen alliances.

AlterNet.org
www.AlterNet.org
The best of alterative news from the Independent Media Institute produces WireTap (magazine by and for socially conscious youth); and SPIN Project: The Strategic Press Information Network (provides assistance to nonprofit public-interest organizations to influence debate, shape public opinion, and garner positive media attention); also publishes the weekly MediaCulture Mix

AntiRacismNet
www.antiracismnet.org
AntiRacismNet is an international online network of anti-racism organizations and practitioners; provides both an online resource for the activist community and a portal offering information about anti-racism activities to the general public.

Behind the Home Front
www.rcfp.org/behindthehomefront
A daily chronicle of news in homeland security and military operations affecting newsgathering, access to information and the public's right to know.

Common Dreams
www.commondreams.org
This site contains hundreds of links to other progressive publications and specializes in opinion editorials that are succinct, yet thought-provoking and informative.

Guerrilla News Network
www.gnn.tv
GNN is an independent film and news organization committed to investigating issues and events that are under-reported by mainstream news sources. Producer of Aftermath: Unanswered Questions from 9-11.

Independent Media Centers
www.indymedia.org
The Independent Media Centers are grassroots organizations committed to using media production and distribution as a tool for promoting social and economic justice. It is our goal to further the self-determination of people under-represented in media production and content, and to illuminate and analyse local and global issues that impact ecosystems, communities and individuals.

MediaRights.org
www.mediarights.org
On-line resource for social issue media with numerous education and distribution partners; streams Media That Matters (TM) video festival, and publishes Independent Producers Outreach Toolkit with AIVF.

MoveOn
www.moveon.org
MoveOn is working to bring ordinary people back into politics and a catalyst for a new kind of grassroots involvement, supporting busy but concerned citizens in finding their political voice. International network of more than 2,000,000 online activists is one of the most effective and responsive outlets for democratic participation available today.

OneWorld US
www.oneworld.net
OneWorld US is the United States-based center of OneWorld, the largest international network and web presence devoted to democracy, sustainable development and human rights; produces the OneWorld US edition, a country-based site that seeks to enhance the knowledge of US citizens about international affairs/development. Also see

OneWorld Radio
www.radio.oneworld.net
a portal for radio broadcasters, organizations and individuals, working in the radio for development sector offering a number of services and features for broadcasters.

PlaNetwork
www.planetwork.net/
On-line organizing and rersources to democrate how information technology and the Internet can play a key role in acccellerating porgressive change and peaceful planetary civilization. Reports from their 2003 Networking A Sustainable future Conference and more are on the web site above.

Reclaim the Media
www.reclaimthemedia.org
Reclaim the Media is a coalition of independent journalists, media activists and community organizers in the Pacific Northwest, promoting press freedom and community media access as prerequisites for a functioning democracy who believe that it is essential to popularize and widen public debate concerning media ownership and private control of public broadcasting resources (including the Internet). Web Site host of Media for Social Change and Seattle's Media Democracy Coffee Club.

United Nations – INSTRAW
http://www.un-instraw.org/
International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women Seminars on Gender and ICTs are forumsfor exchange of research based knowledge and information through discussions and background materials. They aim at highlighting good practices and lessons learned, identification of research and policy gaps, and outlining policy options and recommendations.

Women's eNews
www.womensenews.org
Women's eNews is a nonprofit independent news service covering issues of concern to women and their allies. Women's eNews subscribers may select whether to receive a daily full text, daily summary or weekly summary.

Film and Video Distributors

Bullfrog Films
www.bullfrogfilms.com/

California Newsreel
www.newsreel.com

National Film Board of Canada
www.nfb.ca

Frameline Distribution
www.frameline.org

Third World Newsreel
www.thirdworldnewsreel.org/

Video Out Distribution
www.video-in.com/
Vancouver, Canada-based satellite video exchange society; video artist coop and access center

Women Make Movies
www.wmm.com