Schools like this Broaden our Knowledge and Understanding of the Real World
Our Journalism Depends on You Readers
By Lela Vujanic
School of Authentic Journalism, Class 2013
April 25, 2013
Dear reader,
As you’ve probably heard, newsrooms are shrinking and mainstream media is losing touch with the reality while serving corporate agenda. Public has silently disappeared from the news eye. What does it than mean to produce media today in the age of mass miscommunications?
There are still islands of resistance. There are still news media that open space for public debate, passionate and courageous journalist who still make a difference in our everyday lives or even change our policy directions. There are still those who understand that producing media means empowering communities and initiating social change.
I’m writing you to explain what it means for journalists and organizers from all over the world to have the opportunity to meet likeminded individuals, peers and colleagues, those experienced and those who are not – but all inspired and committed to serving and progressing their communities.
I was born and raised in worst neighborhood ever – in Sisak, most polluted city in Croatia. Once a socialist industrial miracle and pride, the factory „transitioned“ as well as the rest of the society. From full employment and social rights to what looks today as abandoned set of some dystopian movie. The war was already there, hand in hand with nationalism and transition. These were my teenage years.
I become introduced to media through the development of civil society and anti-war movement in Croatia. From first zines to printed magazines, my knowledge grew year by year, to encompass all media platforms, today. I have initiated few non-profit media projects as well as organizations. My media work was always guided by giving voice to excluded ones – to minorities in the broad sense of the word – from drug users to workers, often presented in mainstream media as caricatures without their own voice. As a journalist I always tried to present viable alternatives to existing way of doing politics and living life, which either impoverish or makes unhappy large groups of global population. Media – in that respect – is a freedom practice.
Schools like this broaden our knowledge and understanding of problems beyond our backyard and connect us with each other to form a global network of media resistance. The people you support here are hell raisers, jammers, idealists and troublemakers. The stories that they report are important stories which have hard time in finding their way in mainstream press. But, our journalism depends on you, readers.
Just imagine that news media that you value don’t exist anymore. Stories from previous times are told by the street fire. Bits of information are transmitted in a numerical order to serve the stock exchange. Corporations have hijacked language and time. This could be a plot from SF movie. This could also be our near future. To prevent this from happening, please support our journalism.
Please make your contribution today to The Fund for Authentic Journalism, to keep Narco News reporting and training more journalists to do this work. Your contributions up to $20,000 will be matched so that a contribution of $10 dollars will in fact become one of $20. The Fund is a 501c3 nonprofit organization, which means your donation is tax deductible, too.
You can make your contribution online, here:
http://www.authenticjournalism.org
Or you can send it to:
The Fund for Authentic Journalism
P.O. Box 1446
Easthampton, MA 01027 USA
Run, comrade, run, the old world is behind you!
Your East-European dissent,
Lela
Lea Ud. el Artículo en Español
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