Los Angeles Independent Media Centre
The Los Angeles Independent Media Centre is part of a global network of participating journalists and news reporters that report on the current political and social issues affecting the daily lives of the residents. It is a collective organisation of independent media houses and groups of journalists who offer grassroots coverage of the social issues that affect the citizens (Cromwell, 2002). It is a democratic journalism and media outlet that enables the creation of radical and passionate claims of the rights of the people (Cromwell, 2002). The media network seeks to encourage people to publish their take on the manner their rights are offered as directly as possible for others to see.
The Los Angeles Independent Media Centre forum allows for the reporting of left wing and single issue causes and the sharing of such issues with other people (Cromwell, 2002). People report different categories of issues ranging from animal and human rights to immigration and racism issues.
Left-Wing Issues
These are views of the people which aim at supporting social change for the common good of the society. They typically involve a concern for the disadvantaged in the society who seem to be relative to their societal counterparts with the given assumption that they are justified to be unequal to others (Cromwell, 2002). Right-wing politics propose that such injustice is natural and should not be justified. A visit to the Los Angeles Independent Media Centre website displayed different left-wing issues including the following:
International Day of Solidarity with Leonard Peltier
This is meant for the society to show a sign of solidarity with Leornard, a political prisoner who the society believed had been wrongfully imprisoned for a period of 35 years (www.http://la.indymedia.org). There was a call for demonstrations against his imprisonment which the demonstrators were against. In this demo, pressure was put for the society to know who Leonard is and for the president to put more pressure on his government to ensure his release (Cromwell, 2002).
Occupy for Prisoners
This was meant to act as a wake-up call for prisoners especially in the Pelican Bay to show their solidarity. Participants at the protest believed that it was time that the prisoners engage in hunger strikes to end solitary confinement when in the prison.
Indybay Journalists Charged with Felony
In this case, assault on the media especially in Santa Cruz was reported. This was following a case where newsmakers were charged with felonies of occupying a vacant bank building (Cromwell, 2002). The attorney believed that such a case should have been reported against such media houses.
Adult Education under Threat of Elimination
Los Angeles Unified School District proposed budgets that will cut-off funding towards adult education. Such would be an unfair action especially to the immigrants and poor families.
Repercussions on Land Dispute in Tribe of Tejon
The Tribe of Tejon is thanking Secretary Salazar for confirming the tribe as a federally fully recognized tribe giving them full recognition. This encourages other marginalised communities to air their grievances to receive an equal treatment.
San Diegans Rally against Citizens United Decision
The rally was meant to set a common societal voice in which all the occupants of the state should be united together whether they are foreigners, immigrants or native state residents. This would ensure common solidarity and peaceful coexistence all for the common good of the society.
Protecting Sacred Sites
Building and construction has led to the encroachment of the Kuruvungna Springs which have been in the past used by the natives as sacred sites. Water features near the site have disappeared. Environmentalists and Tongva descendants have established the Tongva Springs Foundation to secure back the land and restore it to its original status for the societal advantage (www.http://la.indymedia.org).
Persecution of the Homeless
Venice where the government and police have repressed the homeless with strict eviction orders being given. Members of the community called for unity in stopping the evictions (Cromwell, 2002).
Links to Extremist Groups
Different linkages exist that encourage the existence of extremist groups in any society. Such links aim at oppressing a given part of the society while giving others preference. In Los Angeles, the National Alliance is a major influence towards such groups.
National Alliance
The National Alliance has had a great presence in the white supremacist areas and was formed by the competing fractions of the natives belonging to William Pierce's racist and the opposing anti-Semitic legacy (Cromwell, 2002). Members of National Alliance generally meet privately in order to discuss the alliance’s ideology and other extremist activities. Some of the alliance’s followers are young racists with others being seasoned members (www.http://la.indymedia.org). Its fundamental doctrine is the common believe that the world is hierarchical and that the Aryan community is the most superior.
Potential for Criminal acts or Public Disorder
The propaganda model proposes that the media can lead to systematic biases especially in cases where they post their views in the same site as in the case for Los Angeles Independent Media Centre. Sources of such propaganda may include:
Liberal bias
It is partisan selection of information to be presented or the distortion of such information in order to support existing liberal policies (Cromwell, 2002). This can be a potential for criminal activities to support such policies which may awaken public anger leading to disorder.
Anti-communism and fear
Anti-ideologies make use of public fear and societal hatred groups in order to pose a potential threat. Such would impact the public with fear and tension in order to carry out such activities. Afterwards such can lead to revolutionary wars in the society.
Ways in which left-wing issues are covered in this forum
In the Los Angeles Independent Media Centre forum, left-wing issues have been covered through a defined manner where the issues are presented according to the area of the law that they lie in. Such areas include civil rights and liberties, equality under the law, freedom of the press, human rights and police brutality (www.http://la.indymedia.org).
Conclusion
With half a high number of page views a day to the Los Angeles Independent Media Centre site, the multi-media posts in the site provide a vital source of offset information about major struggles against issues such as corporate justice, local as well as international campaigns on peace and different forms of social justice.
The scope and scale of the Los Angeles Independent Media Centre news coverage especially on social issues surpasses the contribution by individual media houses towards social welfare. Thus, the forum helps in minimizing the costs of seeking information on local and global issues which could otherwise have been sought from different media sites. The forum has created innovative forms of participatory social media-making and function. The forum’s innovative Open Publishing system encourages the public to become the media by regularly posting their own articles to the site. This has contributed highly to the body of knowledge available for the public on their social welfare.
References
Cromwell, D (2002). The propaganda model: an overview. Excerpted from Private Planet. Retrieved from http://www.chomsky.info/onchomsky/2002----.htm
www.http://la.indymedia.org
