[Boston-editorial] should boston indy continue, by default, as a news source for leftists?

[TL]

I agree that we should be careful w/ the reposts
because that could lead down a slippery slope to a
kinda place that IMC has always distinguished itself
from. The particular article in question regarding the
Yale professor, though interesting (like many articles
at sites like CounterPunch are) is a real stretch
anyways given that its about a connecticut issue.

what makes sense to me (or at least what I assumed was
the policy anyway up until last week) is that
reposting in the center column should pretty much be
limited to situations like a) It comes from the writer
his/ herself, which i guess could just be considered
posting anyway and b) when theres some sort of
understanding made that the writer's down with their
article being featured on IMC. 

Now the Pitt thing was a special case though in
hindsight Im not so supportive of the decision as I
was because I had thought for some reason that he sent
it himself, which wasnt the case. but not only that
but that it wasn't anything even posted to the
newswire or other news but was something Matt read on
the Mobe-list (?) Now im not sayin that im now against
it being centered im just not for it happening again
maybe. 

as for the tensions with anarchists/liberals and how
we're percieved, etc... for me the view of IMC as
mouthpiece for the Anarchist movement should be just
as troubling as IMC being news service for
Liberal/reform. 
(admittedly the latter sound alot worse but Im talkin
about ideals here) I mean "by default" we're obviously
leftist newssource but that comprises a wide spectrum
of groups and agendas and perspectives and to be
pegged down to such a limited slice of that spectrum 
(which i dont think we actually are) just aint right.
now of course I do recognise the fact that in past and
in present IMC has had a real close relationship w/
the anarcho crowd that said I think that the notion
that we're alienating that movement is not something
that, outside some individual miscommunications and
squabbles on listservs which shouldnt happen of
course, we shouldnt be getting all up in a bind over
this because as of now I think thats kindof an
unfounded notion. whether people are actually feeling
that way or not. I mean on may day for instance we
have like equal coverage of both their event and the
rally. 

I have always understood Independent Media to mean
"independent" of the agendas and groups and not as
some particular group's own independent newsservice. 

theres alot of stuff that needs addressing and Im
saying that right now as the ass who cant commute up
to the one place today where things could be adressed
which i regret deeply because over the past week
theres been alot of important stuff talked about on
the list. 
Im looking forward to hearing what people are gonna
come to today
peace
tl










--- Pete Stidman <pstidman at yahoo.com> wrote:

> OK.  I can tell tensions are running high here.  At
> first I thought this yaley prfessor article was a
> post
> (not a repost) so I started getting it ready for
> centering, but then I saw that it was a repost. 
> Generally we don't do reposts, which is probably why
> Matt brought it up for review by the collective.  
> 
> I don't think we should center this and here's why. 
> Already centering pitts article has caused some
> contentiousness in the collective, and I think both
> sides have some valid points.  But we should
> remember
> that we are primarily a news access point for folks
> who normally wouldn't have access.  If we start
> reposting, the flow could be enormous.  it could
> drwon
> out the voiices we hope will surface on our site.  
> 
> For the same reason I am against posting the jam
> plain
> gazette article, even though it is closer to home. 
> What we could do with that, is contact the author
> and
> make sure they know about us.  The Obain issue is
> improtant to alot of people but is also resolved and
> not front in peoples minds so theres an added
> disincentive. 
> 
> We need to start finding ways to get more writers
> involved here, which is why I've finally started
> doing
> the writing workshop, which despite a low turnout,
> went extremely well.  
> 
> With time and perseverance I think we can reach our
> vision of having a site that gives voice to the
> voiceless and all that, I definitely don't think we
> should lower the bar by allowing reposts aside from
> the very rare one that all agree on (the pitt
> article
> had 3-4 editors supporting it).
> 
> And let's try to keep the drama level down if we
> can. 
> change is possible here, this is not the battle for
> the future of everything.  We're all reasonable and
> fairly flexible here.  
> 
> -Pete
> 
> 
> --- sharpie at riseup.net wrote:
> > Hey folks, so I don't necessarily have an issue
> with
> > reposting this
> > feature, but I think the action we take makes a
> > clear reflection on our
> > editorial policy.
> > 
> > Before I continue I want to make something clear
> > that I think may have
> > been misunderstood in the past. My issue with
> Boston
> > indy and its
> > relationship to the anarchist community is due to
> my
> > feeling that Boston
> > indy's actions have prevented it from being a safe
> > and accessible space to
> > the Boston Anarchist community. In its current
> > state, the site is a news
> > source primarily of interest to radical
> > leftists/anarchists. As well I
> > feel that the nature of the features posted to
> > Boston Indy and discussions
> > on various lists are more supportive of a more
> > liberal/reformist
> > perspective, to the degree of possibly even
> > alienating the Boston
> > Anarchist community.
> > 
> > I do not necessarily believe that Boston Indy
> should
> > be a mouthpiece for
> > the anarchist community, nor do I think that
> Boston
> > Indy should produce
> > more "anarchist" features, I just feel that we
> > should make an effort, if
> > we are going to continue to be a radical/leftist
> > news source, to not
> > alienate one of the more vibrant communities of
> this
> > type within Boston.
> > 
> > Now, hopefully having cleared that up, I'll
> > continue.
> > 
> > The David Graeber issue, while interesting,
> occurred
> > in New Haven
> > Connecticut. Connecticut has at least 2 active
> > Indymedia Centers, and I
> > believe New Haven has 3 Indymedia Centers within
> > about 100 miles. I don't
> > necessarily feel like it's super important that we
> > feature this article,
> > when there are closer centers that could do
> > something, perhaps we can put
> > some sort of alert that suggests readers look to
> > more local centers in
> > order to find out more.
> > 
> > However, if we are interested in reposting this
> > article about David
> > Graeber, I would like to know if the editorial
> group
> > is also interested in
> > posting an article in the Jamaica Plain Gazette
> > about the victory of
> > students and teachers in keeping Attouoman Obain,
> a
> > teacher from the Ivory
> > Coast, in the United States, though his visa has
> > expired.
> > 
> > If we decide that this local story is not worth
> > posting/outside of our
> > guidelines, but the Graeber story is, then it
> seems
> > we will be making a
> > policy decision to post news of interest primarily
> > to radical leftists and
> > not necessarily the disparate locally focused
> > communities in the Greater
> > Boston area.
> > 
> > I will be posting a copy of this article to the
> > Boston Indymedia newswire
> > momentarily.
> > 
> > solidarity, see you tomorrow afternoon.
> > sharpie
> > 
> > 
> > _______________________________________________
> > Boston-editorial mailing list
> > Boston-editorial at lists.indymedia.org
> >
>
http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/listinfo/boston-editorial
> > 
> 
> 
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"And I say to my people's masters
Beware,
Beware of the thing that is coming
Beware of the risen people"
- Padraig Pearse, "The Rebel"


		
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