The Bay Area progressive community unites for the first time in 50 years around the progressive listener-sponsored radio station. Can we win?
| PACIFICA MANAGEMENT AND BOARD ATTACK KPFA, by Belinda Griswold The Bay Area progressive community unites for the first time in 50 years around the progressive listener-sponsored radio station. Can we win? |
 | TIPS FROM A PRO ON INVESTIGATING DEATH ROW CASES, by A. Clay Thompson h. In the past few years Northwestern University journalism professor David Protess and his students have helped liberate three wrongfully convicted condemned men through two class projects in investigative reporting (their work wasn't published but was covered by the press and used by the defense lawyers). Inspired by those successes, MediaFile asked a prominent local defense investigator for tips on digging into death-row cases. |
 | DISSENTING VOICES OF THE STREET, by Terry Messman Over the past decade, an outspoken brand of iconoclastic journalism has emerged from the harsh experiences of people living on the streets in dozens of cities in the United States, Canada, and Europe. |
| REPORTER'S FILE: Using Tax Returns to Investigate Nonprofit Organizations, by Mónica L. López Unlike commercial businesses, nonprofit organizations tend to operate at the edge of the public eye. |
 | INVESTIGATE '98: Highlights of Community-based and Investigative Journalism, by Akilah Monifa The San Francisco Bay Area is rich in resources for investigative journalism: It supports several journalism schools and countless news outlets. Despite the possibilities, however, most major publishers and television and radio station owners did business as usual in 1998, choosing to leave in-depth, well-researched community reporting to the alternative media. |
| ALTERNATIVE INTERNATIONAL NEWS SOURCES: FOCUS ON MEXICO, by Ben Clarke & Steve Rhodes When events like the Acteal massacre in Chiapas or the U.S. bombing of Sudan and Afghanistan occur, there are a variety of news sources you can go to for perspectives other than uncritical reporting of the latest press releases from the State Department and Pentagon. Some of the following resources deal with breaking stories; others provide the in-depth information necessary to interpret the news. |
| CUAUHTÉMOC CÁRDENAS MEETS THE PRESS, by John Ross Inside Mexico, the media have mounted a sustained attack on the capital's left-leaning mayor that could help squash chances for democratic reform. |
| THE MEXICO CONNECTION, by Sharon Donovan and the Media Alliance Latin America Committee A survey of mainstream media reporting on U.S. military aid, the "drug war," and human rights in Mexico. |
| WORKING THE ALTERNATIVES: Media Employment Outside of the Mainstream, by Wilma B. Consul Chuy Varela is a hustler. He once collected recyclable metals in East Bay industrial parks and worked as a gardener and hauler who cruised around Oakland's Fruitvale and Jingletown in his truck "looking for a dólar." |
 | TOP 10: BEST MOVIES ABOUT MEDIA, by MiHi Ahn icking the top ten anything is a pretty daunting task, and selecting ten top media movies proved to be more of a challenge than I was expecting |
| STUDENTS STRUGGLE AGAINST CENSORSHIP, by Lian Cheun High school students continue to find that their First Amendment rights are invisible to school administrators, despite years of struggle against censorship. |
| HAVANA JOURNAL, by Elaine Elinson Magnolia trees and purple jacarandas sweeten the heavy tropical air of the courtyard of the UPEC building, whose marble staircase and stately columns testify to its past as an old Havana mansion. |
| WHY PROGRESSIVES KEEP LOSING CALIFORNIA'S INITIATIVE WARS, by Hunter Cutting and Kim Deterline, photos by Scott Braley In the past few years a pattern has emerged from a string of explosive political campaigns in California that have sparked public debate across the nation. Launched in the form of ballot initiatives, these campaigns have attacked affirmative action, immigrants, bilingual education, and labor unions. They have divided traditional progressive coalitions, scapegoated marginalized communities, and revived formerly bankrupt social policies. |
| HE SAYS, SHE SAYS: HOW CALIFORNIA'S MAJOR PAPERS HAVE COVERED PROP. 227, by Manisha Aryal Proposition 227 opponents say software millionaire Ron Unz's initiative is not about bilingual education. He insists it is. |
| FALLING THROUGH THE CRACKS: why labor actions are not news, by Akilah Monifa It's a typical Wednesday evening in November and it's raining again. I hear loud chants outside my office window, the same ones that pierce that air three times a week, every week: "Union--Yes! Marriott--No! Union bashing's got to go! What do we want? Contract! When do we want it? Now! Hey there Marriott, you're no good! Sign that contract like you should." |
| FIT TO PRINT?, Complied by Jeff Gillenkirk Complete list of sources, in order of appearance, for Dec. 29, 1997 New York Times article, "U.S Helps Mexico's Army Take a Big Anti-Drug Role," by Tim Golden: |
| READ 'EM AND THINK (CRITICALLY): A media criticism reading list, by Gabe Martinez and Akilah Monifa Media bashing has become a reflex for many, but critical analysis of what we read, listen to, and watch is what's essential |
| BAY AREA GROUPS MONITOR MAINSTREAM, by Samantha Calamari. Three Bay area organizations, Retro Poll, the Youth Media Council (YMC), and If Americans Knew have been using monitoring tactics to challenge mainstream media’s reporting patterns. Their efforts take media criticism a step beyond analysis and are beginning to turn frustration at the lack of unbiased information in the mass media into productive steps towards media democracy and public access to balanced news |
| DEMOCRACY WHEN? AN UPDATE ON THE BATTLE TO SAVE PACIFICA RADIO. by Eileen Sutton. As this issue of MediaFile goes to press WBAI has been attacked by Pacifica with firings, lockouts, and banning of production staff. |
| INTERNATIONAL NEWS: WHERE IS IT COMING FROM? by Franz Schurmann. American newspaper readers traditionally haven't taken much interest in "foreign" news. Nevertheless foreign news has been on newspaper front pages for a long time. And America has had foreign policy ever since the USA was formed. Where do the ideas and intents of those policies ----- and the news shaped by them ----- come from? |