Frequently Asked Questions: Public Media

• Making Your Media Matter 2008 Rapporteur’s Report
• Making Your Media Matter ‘08 Podcast and Discussion Forum
• Recut, Reframe, Recycle
• Mapping Public Media: Inside and Out
• Fair Use Frequently Asked Questions
• More...

Subscribe to our free mailing list for event announcements, CSM news and our latest reports.

Subscribe to News RSS feed

Subscribe to Blog RSS feed

Get our video podcast

Subscribe to iCalendar

WAM! showcases new directions in feminist and activist media

email   discuss Posted by Alison Hanold on Apr 1, 2008 at 10:23 AM

This weekend I had the great pleasure to attend the Women, Action & the Media (WAM!) Conference on the campus of MIT. While there, I met an impressive array of young activists and experienced professionals who use media (magazines, blogs, comics, radio, documentaries) to draw attention to their causes. The conference featured Keynote Speakers Helen Thomas, the first woman officer of the National Press Club and the first woman member and president of the White House Correspondents Association, and Haifa Zangana, a novelist and former prisoner of Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi regime. The conference featured sessions focused on making high impact progressive media (presented by the Media Consortium’s Tracy Van Slyke and Erin Polgreen); using technology to work towards social justice (presented by Marie Celestin, Yawu Miller, Cara Lisa Powers, and Aliza Dichter); and the present and future of online media and activism (presented by Kierra Johnson, Pamela Merritt, Molly Tafoya, and Sarah Schacht.)

This year’s conference also showcased a variety of films, including Silent Choices by Faith Pennick. This documentary focuses on the perspectives of several African American women and their stances on abortion. One of the women interviewed, Angela, recounts her experience in receiving an abortion during the Civil Rights movement, and how the pro-life attitude of the Black Panther party at the time hindered her ability to speak out about her situation. The film goes on to argue that the conversation about abortion in the African American community is minimal, which is problematic considering that a large percentage of women in America who seek abortions are African American. Another film screened was Un Poquito de Tanta Verdad (A Little Bit of So Much Truth). This documentary captures the images taken by and of citizens of Oaxaca during a non-violent uprising against the government. The film is a fantastic example of communities using grassroots organizing and public media outlets to change their communities.

Add to: | Technorati | Digg | del.icio.us | Yahoo | BlinkList | Spurl | reddit | Furl |

There are no comments on this blog entry yet. Start the discussion below.