Media Empowerment Project Organizaing Manual--The manual is a resource for communities interested in organizing around media. It provides: a framework for understanding why media matters and how different aspects of media are related; useful facts and statistics; stories of successful grassroots campaigns; and a chapter of resources on different tactics and skills for organizing around media.

• monitoring and making the mainstream media accountable around their framing of issues
• participating in making media that turly represents themselves and thier lives
• ensuring ways to distribute untold stories and histories that create connections, unity and inspiration to demand a just world

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Media Empowerment: Organizing Manual, An Introduction

The United States is a vast country, made up of people from all around the world. Immigrants to this country bring with them varied histories, desires and dreams for the future. Those who have been here for many centuries, too — Native Americans, the descendants of Africans and Europeans — have experienced this country in different ways, and have different visions and values. There are many ways for us to communicate these ideas. In times past, it was throughstorytelling, through community events and conversations. Most of us still have these conversations about values and ideals, in the different communities to which we belong.

But today, we have to compete with another powerful force: our media system. We all watch TV, listen to the radio or read the paper. The different media all claim at some level to speak for us, to tell us who we are and what we aspire to, and how to deal with what’s important and relevant in our lives. They also have a big impact on what and who politicians think they should be focusing their energies and money on. In our increasingly complex and information-driven society, the media have a very powerful voice.

Most of us are excluded from taking part in this one-way conversation. How often have you seen programs or read articles that addressed you and your community? How often have you had to sit through depressing stereotypes of women, people of color, working people, of immigrants or youth? How much of the time is someone selling you something? Have you ever made a program, shown it on TV, talked about it in your community?

Have you ever noticed in the media the United States that you see on your streets, that you know exists beyond your neighborhood? Have you ever seen a program that you thought might help people struggling for social justice? Where are all the people like us in our media? What happened to their voices?

This situation isn’t inevitable. In some countries, media can play a very different role. They can help communities to stay in touch with each other locally, nationally and even across borders. They can give voice to people that traditionally have been excluded from power and policy debates. As recently as a few decades ago, media looked quite different. There were a greater variety of programs and viewpoints, not to mention fewer commercials. Even today, on public access TV and low-power radio stations and through countless organizations working on community media, you can see yourself reflected, you can hear music from the community and honest debates about issues that matter.

What is your vision for the role media should play in your community? What could you do in your neighborhood if you had access to the media? If you could speak and be heard by media corporations, what would you tell them? What would you watch, produce and distribute? What kinds of rules would you put in place to make sure that media served the people, all the people?

These are big questions, and the task of transforming the media is a difficult and long-term struggle. But there are many things you can do to make a meaningful impact in your community and country. In this manual, you will find information about some of the many media justice organizing, policy and education drives going on around the United States. The guide is divided into four chapters. Chapter 1 provides information on how the media operates today, who owns it, the rules that govern it and the organizations working to change it. Chapter 2 deals with the more concrete aspects of community organizing: how to recruit people, how to organize your group, run meetings, etc. In Chapter 3, there is a guide to researching your media, and in Chapter 4, there are several resources guides on actions you can take.

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