Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

The global network of Independent Media Centers (IMCs), or “Indymedia,” is a groundbreaking example of the power of an online, multimedia network providing for instantaneous, decentralized global communication, unique in that it involves a network of nonprofit, autonomous media collectives. These new technological capacities are shifting the nature of news consumption and provoking debates about the nature of →  news , its construction, and what constitutes a newsmaker. In addition, IMCs have been experimenting with hierarchy-leveling organizational processes and interactive software in the interests of furthering democratic goals and providing a more diverse set of discussions than corporate media currently offer (→  Media Democracy Movement ). Indymedia discussions also critique the global hegemony of the neo-liberal and unilateral policies of the United States and its allies. The network was pioneered by activists wanting an alternative to corporate news coverage of the protests against the World Trade Organization in November 1999 (→  Activist Media ). Activists provided up-to-the-minute accounts with text, photographs, streaming audio and video, and hyperlinks to alternative information sources with few gatekeepers. Their turnaround time often directly challenged mainstream media coverage ( Downing 2001 ; Kidd 2003a ), and even Reuters and →  CNN linked to the Seattle IMC ... log in or subscribe to read full text