Welcome to Anderson Free Press

Hi. If you're new to Anderson Free Press (or are looking for the Anderson Forums), I just wanted to welcome you to the site and explain how it works a little. Anderson Free Press is a sibling of Muncie Free Press, which I launched to the world on July 4th, 2005 after being downsized at The Star Press. I like to consider what I do 'grassroots journalism.' (You may have heard it called 'citizen journalism' by big media...) By that, I mean a bottom-up approach to changing the way media operates and behaves in our communities in East Central Indiana.

The Anderson Herald Bulletin allows me to post on their forums (at the moment), and I appreciate that. There are others who are being silenced for one reason or another, though. And to them I offer a chance to help shape what AFP becomes over the next few years. (We're barely a few months old here at the moment...) Now, that doesn't mean I want this to become a hang-out for trolls or other trouble makers. The forums *will be* moderated. We can go over the rules together, though.

Journalism is a conversation. Or should be. Perhaps CNHI and the HB don't understand that yet. You, the people of Anderson, as a whole, know a whole heck of a lot more than me or the Anderson Herald Bulletin. At the moment, though, the channels for communication are for the most part owned by large corporations. What I want to offer you is a tool for combining and amplifying your voices.

In the beginning, journalists were supposed to be watchdogs for big government and big business, protectors of the people. Somewhere along the line, though, media *became* big business and closely linked with the government. (Look at 'legal classifieds'... The way Indiana Code is currently written, printed newspapers are the only ones who can offer the city legal classfieds they must run for announcements, etc. So, as you can imagine, the price for legal classifieds keeps going up! I'm not saying any Joe Blow should be able to run legal classifieds for local governments, but there should be options, there should be competition!)

Look at the current media problem in Anderson, Indiana. (Yes, Virginia, there is a problem...) It's due to the lack of competition to the Herald Bulletin, sitting in their Ivory tower, trying to tell us that they're the only game in town for information about the community.

The future is now, though.

How can you help? Donate time or money. Tell other people about AndersonFreePress.net (remember the dot net! Sorry about that, but the .com was taken... maybe we'll get it some day. The content here is more important, though, the spirit of freedom.)

Ok, I got a little carried away there. Now on to the important bits for new users. To participate on the site, you'll have to register for an account. Once you have that, there are a variety of content types you can create. (A little overwhelming at first if you're used to the HB Forums with very little choice, but I'm here to listen to your questions and help as much as I can...)

Here's a rundown of some content types and their uses:

• Story - Formal news items, letters to the editor, editorials, columns, etc. These go into a queue before they're posted to the site where I or another editor can work on them with you before we present them to the world.
• Blog - Your personal diary or journal on Anderson Free Press. Tell us about your day, your life, etc.
• Forum - This is similar to the HB Forums. Someone posts a topic and others respond. There are threaded comments, though, which might make it a little easier to read.
• Event - Post your event - something with a start and stop time
• Image - These also aren't posted directly to the site so let me know if you post something here or want an easier way to get your photos up.

That's about it. Really simple once you get the hang of it. And as I said, I'm here to answer questions if I can.

Your friendly and accessible publisher,
K. Paul Mallasch - http://www.kpaulmedia.com

(765) 557-0576
kpaul.mallasch@gmail.com