Media

Come Feburary 2010 thirty-one journalists from twenty-four countries will meet on Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula. The gathering is for ten days of intensive training in Authentic Journalism, hosted by the drug war and Latin American politics news site Narco News. Milena Velis, interpreter and member of Labor Justice Radio will join them.

If you would like to support MMP's presence at this critical gathering for developing leaders in journalism please consider donating to Milena's scholarship. And make sure to read more about all the participants.

For over 30 years Bread & Roses Community Fund has been supporting movements for racial and economic justice by providing grants, technical assistance and leadership development to local, community-based organizations working for social change. Our philosophy is change, not charity because we believe that changing public policy and public opinion to address the fundamental problems that cause inequity makes the need for charity obsolete. This year, for our annual Tribute to Change event, we are curating a collection of photographs that document communities coming together to build power and self-determination, empowerment, and working for social change. These photos will be exhibited alongside the work of renowned documentary photographer Harvey Finkle who has produced a substantial body of work concerned with social, political and cultural issues.

The photo below is an indication of how much the media landscape has changed in the past few years. For the pictured event the United Workers emailed only one press release to the daily paper of record and local television media.  The result: Only one traditional outlet covered the event, a far cry from coverage in the past. The other result: Over 500 people marched through Baltimore to the worker-declared human rights zoneat the Inner Harbour.

MMP is spending the week in Washington DC for the annual meetings of our partner and ally organizations through the Media and Democracy Coalition along with the Media Action Grassroots Network (MAG-Net).

Some of those folks brought the media, art and cultural agenda to the hill in meetings with the Obama Administration. Read the full story over at the Washington Post of the amazing work to make sure the arts are part of our national picture.

In the recent edition of The Nation, communications scholar Robert McChesney and journalist John Nichols discuss the future of journalism and call for government intervention to save the vital but dying craft of journalism. In the essay the authors revisit the age old argument that the press is the essential "4th estate" or 4th branch of government, acting as community watchdog for political and corporate entities.

Head Start had requested $4.3 billion in the stimulus package. What' now being discussed in the Senate is $2.1 billion and even that' being challenged.

Soon to air on in West Philly on 88.1FM WPEB, ADSC's new radio show explores issues of housing, development and displacement. Through interviews with residents who have been displaced or who are fighting to keep their communities intact and stories highlighting the effects of redevelopment, this show will ask the question, "Who is the 'revitalized' city for?"

The entire process that is forcing casinosinto Philadelphia grows more disturbing everyday.We need to know aboutthe real story ofwhat casinos are and how they may end up in our backyards. Accurate and fair distributionofinformation is essential, which is why the relationship between Philly's largest newpsaper and the Trump Casino is upsetting.

From NPR's Morning Edition: In February 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the city of New London, Connecticut's right to use eminent domain to seize a person's private property and give it to another property owner for economic development. The so-called Kelo decision sparked an uproar among property owners across the U.S. Follow an interesting debate between two law professors on whether Kelo goes too far: 'Can Your Town Take Your Home?

The Philly Inquirer did a 2 part series on NTI -it was pretty disappointing. HOwever, some of the comments people posted about NTI ain't bad - some are below. To read others you have to go to the article.