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Seventh
World Conference of Community Radio Broadcasters
Milan, 23-29 August 1998 Main | Activities | Local information | Register now! | Virtual Forum | Other links Septième
Assemblée mondiale des radiodiffuseurs communautaires
Séptima
Asamblea Mundial de Radios Comunitarias
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amarc-3
Hello, Apologies for my late start, I have been away the last month and well off the net. My name is Michael Eisenmenger and I am currently a professor of visual communications in the visual arts department at Rutgers University. For the last nine years I have worked in the Paper Tiger Television Collective in NYC, a non-profit organization of volunteers that produces programming around issues of media and that also engages in forms of media activism and advocacy. I also work with a media activist coalition here in NYC called the New York Free Media Alliance (NYFMA) which organizes and stages demonstrations for local and regional media related issues. Recently NYFMA has been involved in supporting Micropower radio here in the U.S. and more specifically one of our local radio stations. Of possible interest to this group may be the legal brief filed by 'Free Speech' against the FCC on behalf of local micropower radio broadcasters. The brief provides an excellent synopsis of the ills inherent to U.S. radio broadcasting history and the reasons why we need a major communication legislative overhaul to ensure that community needs are met via frequency allocations (see - http://artcon.rutgers.edu/papertiger/nyfma/str/lawsuit.html) . My congratulations to AMARC for launching this virtual conference and for linking it to the previous one by Videazimut, which I thought was a very useful tool for beginning and hopefully continuing these discussions. Additionally, I have always found the AMARC listserv an invaluable resource for international news. Elvira poses many questions concerning a successful implementation of the principles contained in the Milan Charter. I unfortunately have no easy answers, nor do I feel there are single solutions applicable to all peoples and countries. While the need for an international charter is recognized by all of us, the process of organizing for and implementing such a policy goal will necessarily be diverse in respect to particular cultural, local and regional needs in addition to surmounting various governmental and legislative obstacles unique to each country. A single international document is useful and necessary for us to mount a unified movement (such as the People's Communication Charter), but putting these ideas into action may require more localized and strategic efforts, like the 'Agenda for Action' put forth by the Cultural Environment Movement for activism in the U.S. So, I agree with Jose and Lumko, we need to focus on a plan of action, one that we can implement together on an international level in addition to a myriad of shared strategies that are more applicable to local problem solving. I also feel strongly that we need to track transnational corporations and launch international activist efforts to raise consciousness about the increasing control these entities have over our communications future. As nation states yield more and more control of their infrastructure to TNC's, it's clear that our strategies must be redirected toward these roving corporate bandits. I hope that discussions and forums like this continue so that we can share strategies and support one another's efforts. On that note, at Paper Tiger TV we are still at work on a video series about international communications with a specific focus on ways community media is used in community development and organizing. We would be eager to see and hear about your organization's efforts and struggles in using media in these ways. We hope the series will highlight some significant efforts and help serve as an organizing tool for those of us working to democratize communications. Please contact me if you are interested in participating in any way. sincerely, Michael Eisenmenger -------------------------------------------------------------- Paper Tiger Television 339 Lafayette Street fax: (212) 420-8223 New York, NY 10012 email: [email protected] phone: (212) 420-9045 web: http://www.papertiger.org -------------------------------------------------------------- Paper Tiger TV is a non-profit volunteer collective that has been pioneering media criticism through video since 1981. The diverse series of over 260 programs addresses issues of demo- cratic communications, media representation and the economics of the information industry. The tapes are broadcast in NYC and across the U.S. The tapes are also distributed by PTTV to universities, libraries, and media art centers worldwide. -------------------------------------------------------------- ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ AMARC 7 Foro Virtual Forum Virtuel http://www.amarc.org/amarc7 to unsubscribe / pour se desabonner / para abandonar : e-mail "unsubscribe amarc-3 " to: [email protected]