Grassroots Journalism

Editorial: Protecting Grassroots Journalism

kpaul.mallasch — Sun, 6 Jan 2008 17:10:02 -0800

By K. Paul Mallasch

In late 2007, President George W. Bush signed the "Openness Promotes Effectiveness in our National Government Act of 2007," making it law. As a grassroots journalism publisher, I find news like this heartening.

In our own state, Congressman Mike Pence's work with a federal media shield law would include those who derive a substantial amount of their income from acts of journalism.

It's important for those of us interested in taking back the media to let our elected officials know when they do something that makes it easier to accomplish our task - poking and prodding big media until they wake up and begin listening to the citizens they serve.

A free and independent media is important to the American way of life. These are small steps, but they're in the right direction.

From Mashable:

Additionally, the representatives of new media has been privy to an expansion of definition, according to the following:

[T]he term ‘a representative of the news media’ means any person or entity that gathers information of potential interest to a segment of the public, uses its editorial skills to turn the raw materials into a distinct work, and distributes that work to an audience. In this clause, the term ‘news’ means information that is about current events or that would be of current interest to the public.

Examples of news-media entities are television or radio stations broadcasting to the public at large and publishers of periodicals (but only if such entities qualify as disseminators of ‘news’) who make their products available for purchase by or subscription by or free distribution to the general public.

These examples are not all-inclusive. Moreover, as methods of news delivery evolve (for example, the adoption of the electronic dissemination of newspapers through telecommunications services), such alternative media shall be considered to be news-media entities.

Are you yawning yet? What all this mumbo jumbo means is that citizen journalists and journalists are now covered under the amended Act. That deserves one big, fat hooray, for the most part. While the new definition of new media representative isn’t all inclusive, it’s a step in the right direction. Thanks, Mr. Bush, for giving the next president a head start on the right way to handle the Internet as a distribution tool. Bloggers need protection, too.

Items like this will help as we try to change Indiana Code for the benefit of the state.

Editorial: Ron Paul, kpaul, and Grassroots Journalism

kpaul.mallasch — Fri, 4 Jan 2008 20:12:50 -0800

By K. Paul Mallasch

I've noticed recently that big media is starting to handle the Ron Paul Revolution that's happening online quite differently than they were just a few short weeks ago. (A lot like the Herald Bulletin starting to change its Editorial tone.)

If you've followed the Ron Paul campaign, you must know that Fox News stock went down a lot after Ron Paul supporters started emailing sponsors about boycotts and other actions. (And if you haven't heard of Ron Paul, he's a Republican you should look into...)

The interesting thing to me is the way CNN has noticed this and appears to be making a conscious effort to relay more news about Ron Paul or to at least tap into the massive amounts of people traversing the web for his cause.

Great, problem fixed, you say. The thing is, the situation with Ron Paul and the mainstream media highlights some of the problems with the current media powers in this country.

How can a potential candidate be so large online but have very little overspill into mainstream news? Why must they continue harping about Hillary, Rudy, Obama and other over and over and over again? Why isn't the media pointing out that it's pretty silly to have a two party system in this the Information Age.

Is it because the politicians need to spend so much money with the media to get their point across?

As a publisher of what I like to call grassroots journalism here in the Hoosier state, I try to give the Libertarians as much play as the Democrats and Republicans. (Some of you out there might know Ron Paul actually ran on a Libertarian ticket years and years ago in 1988...)

The thing is, the blatant disregard of Ron Paul (and other candidates, those without a lot of money) by big media on a national level is telling about the state of American media.

Now, before you run off thinking I'm just some anti-corporate loon, let me state that I do see a need for profit. (This is vital as I've proved that with one person and no offices you can only go so far...) The thing is, though, we're not talking about a normal business that sells pizzas or hamburgers - we're talking about Journalism, something vital to the American way of life.

And something so important to the political process (among other things) has for too many years become nothing more than a conceited, holier-than-thou monologue spewing machine of destruction. (As Jon Stewart said a while back, the media in this country is *hurting* America...)

The current state of the media in this country is harmful - not just for Ron Paul and this election, but for America as a whole, the entire process.

This problem, though, shows another great thing about the American spirit, the willpower to affect change. Al Jordan and myself have been struggling with grassroots journalism in East Central Indiana for going on three years now.

We're starting to see a little growth from all our efforts, but without capital it's hard to build something from the ground-up. To attempt to stir up the current system of media in this country without any money is perhaps even more ludicrous, but it's something that has to be done.

We're not the only ones, of course, as there are a lot of others around the country doing similar things on their own (some for even longer than we've been at it...) The thing is, I've worked for big media for almost a decade. I don't see change happening from within.

Like the Ron Paul Revolution itself, I believe it will take the people standing up on their own and demanding a better media. Individuals like Al and I are out here on the front lines in the Midwest, willing and happy to help people create a better media.

Personally, I think the 'business model' that will work best will be one that combines professionally trained as well as amateur (citizen) journalists - so called Pro-Am journalism. I've been trying to work with other individuals in the state to create a loose confederation of media sites and sources.

I'm hoping that if we have more companies and individuals running the media and they've been started with a dialog that includes the audience from the get-go, that we have a real chance to affect change on a big scale.

Going back to the current media, though, and Ron Paul. It's too late to expect big media to admit their mistakes and do an honest and complete turnaround. With that in mind, I wonder why there isn't a 'Ron Paul Revolution' sized movement behind grassroots journalism in this country?

Where is the support for those fighting corporate Goliaths from the trenches in an effort to fix a bigger problem in the American political realm - the media itself.

If you're a national visitor and am interested in helping, now's the time.

I'm accepting donations. I have an Amazon Wishlist.

If you have *any* questions about what we're doing to create a better media in the Midwest, please feel free to ask. If you're interested in starting a site like this in your town, check out LocalJournalism.net.

Oh, and Ron Paul, if you're listening, we'd love to have you stop by America's first (AFAIK), public newsroom in Elwood, Indiana (just a bit north of Indianapolis if you're going to be there...)

Thanks for your time.

Welcome to Anderson Free Press

kpaul.mallasch — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 11:34:01 -0800

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