Feature Archives

Newspapers across the country are in decline. Reporters are being sacked, buildings sold, and operations consolidated. It’s all the fault of the Internet. Print journalism – financed by ad revenue and classifieds – can’t compete with free websites like Craigslist and have seen a huge decline in their profits. Publishers are being forced to make “very difficult” decisions, firing significant numbers of staff in order to make ends meet. It was inevitable that this crisis would reach Santa Cruz, and the layoffs at the Sentinel are just part of this general decline. At least, that’s what corporate media executives want you to think.

On June 15th, one day after the Yes Men made a joke announcement in Calgary at Canada's largest oil conference that ExxonMobil plans to turn billions of climate-change victims into a brand-new fuel called Vivoleum, the Yes Men's upstream internet service provider shut down Vivoleum.com, the Yes Men's spoof website, and cut off the Yes Men's email service, in reaction to a complaint whose source they will not identify. The provider, Broadview Networks, also made the Yes Men remove all mention of Exxon from TheYesMen.org before they'd restore the Yes Men's email service.

Faced with imminent layoffs and management’s attempts to eliminate unions, workers from the Northern California Media Workers Union held a picket and press conference in front of the offices of the San Jose Mercury News on Tuesday, June 26th.

Berkeley-based KPFA radio joined thousands of webcasters around the US in a Day of Silence on June 26th. KPFA is part of a national network that aims to draw attention to an impending July 15th royalty rate increase that, if implemented, would lead to the virtual shutdown of this country's Internet radio industry. Two bills that could alleviate the rate increase are moving slowly through Congress.

Jeff Perlstein, who was one of the founders of Indymedia, steps down as Executive Director of Media Alliance this month. On May 3 a meeting/party was held in Jeff's honor at New College in San Francisco. The event also marked the 31st birthday of Media Alliance, as well as World Press Freedom Day. Media Alliance always struggles for the cause of community journalism. It helped kick off Indymedia in the Bay Area in 2000.

In 2006, a historic mobilization for immigrant rights swept the US as millions took to the streets. Corporate news media predictably covered the marches with a mix of surprise, ignorance, and racism, yet grassroots media activists were there to document the voices and the stories behind this mass movement. ¡Gigante: Despierta! ("Giant: Awake!") is a DVD compilation of short films from around the U.S. documenting the story of May Day 2006, due to hit the streets in the weeks before May 1, 2007. The project was shot, edited, and brought together by a network of independent video activists, graphic designers, community organizers, musicians, and immigrant rights activists.

V-Man writes, "While looking through some old cassette tapes, recently, I found this archived edition of Rockin' the Boat, dated December 22, 1999. This show features an interview and conversation with Mr Bradlee, aka Brad Will, who was murdered October 27, 2006 by government paramilitary forces in Oaxaca, Mexico, while documenting the popular uprising there."