Critical analysis of the New Zealand website www.indymedia.org.nz
in terms of the alternative it presents to mainstream media

von: Wibke Ehlers

Structure

Introduction 2

About Indymedia 3

Layout and Online Presence 4

Coverage in mainstream and Indymedia - 5

Similarities 5

Differences 6

Indymedia as an alternative space 7

Appendix 9

Reference list 12

Introduction

Through globalization, especially since the rise of Internet and television, the world is moving closer, into a “global village”, as Marshall McLuhan once called it. He foresaw a new era of worldwide community spirit caused by global TV news, but the digital divide and commercially dominant media have put this idealistic idea in question. Nowadays most broadcasted news only serve the mainstream audience, which leads to a need for establishing an alternative counterpart. Media are called alternative, if their goals are not commercially orientated and they are independent of government and corporate control, giving their patrons the opportunity to get an idea of events and circumstances on their own. The reflection of structures as well as the course of events, background information and the focus on details distinguish these media from other. In their need for more publicity they form networks in order to increase their presence and find new ways of financing. One of the biggest networks is Indymedia, which has national web pages in more than 70 countries. It is seen as part of the worldwide resistance against the capitalistic globalization. Anyone with computer literacy and access can be part of such a digital network, but personal meetings still remain an important factor for the effectiveness of their actions. Alternative media are mostly related to social movements ranging from well known environmentalist groups such as Greenpeace to small local community groups which want to stop the closure of a nearby school. This essay will analyze the website www.indymedia.org.nz with a focus on how it creates an alternative space in comparison to mainstream media. As an example I will use the media coverage of the desecration of the Jewish cemetery in Wellington, Makara, to show characteristic differences in more detail.

About Indymedia

The global Indymedia collective, www.indymedia.org, was started in Seattle by a core group of half a dozen media activists to provide coverage of the 1999 World Trade Organization meetings and protests. The group was concerned that the coverage by the mainstream media would be rather poor, so their goal was, with the help of a new technology, to lay the infrastructure for a multifunctional newsroom that would make alternative media come together without having to go through the corporate filter. The introduced open-source technology, called Catalyst, led in less than three years to a media network that has connected thousands of media makers and users. Everyone with computer access can post texts, photos, audio and video into the web and with the different national Indymedia outlets, knowledge of the English language is not anymore a fundamentaly requirement to express an own opinion. “Indymedia describes itself as ‘a collective of independent media organizations and hundreds of journalists offering grassroots, non-corporate coverage. Indymedia is a democratic media outlet for the creation of radical, accurate and passionate tellings of the truth”. (Ballve, p.29). The rise of the Internet gave the activists a mass medium that they could control themselves. “The Web places activists on a more equal footing with other media outlets when waging the battle over public relations” (Owens/Palmer, p. 336). Indymedia uses the opportunity to create their own media with mass distribution, and although this mostly happens in the developed world, a considerable degree of international crisis centers are presented on the sites. The different sides share information and are connected with hyperlinks to inform users about upcoming activities. Since its beginning Indymedia has been constantly growing, uniting people all over the world in their fight against the existing status quo of power to establish a more democratic, equal society.

Layout and Online Presence

As soon as the first IMC web page was created in 1999 it received posts from all over the world. Since then very different national sites have been established but the small “i” with the radio waves surrounding it, remained the same, sometimes with minor graphical alterations, as well as the main three categories. 1. The heart of each Indymedia site is the newswire that runs on the right hand side. It is open to anyone who wants to send information or media imagery. Topics on the New Zealand site on the 13th of August for example were: “Are you talking to me Transit?” from a Wellington Anti-Bypass roading project or “Write for an imminent rebellion” from an anarchists and Anti-authoritarian leftists organization. 2. In the page centre is a column for feature articles which are edited by a team who searches the news wire, selects the most relevant items and places them in the middle of the page. Some of these themes are already known to a broader audience as they also have been featured in the mainstream media such as “Hate is alive and well in Aotearoa” (13/08/2004) about the destruction of the Jewish cemetery in Wellington or “Rallies and counter-rallies: Civil Union debates escalates”. 3. The left side of the webpage provides a search engine, organizational information as well as links to all independent media centers worldwide. The main site www.indymedia.org also offers a choice of languages and the subscription of Indy-News Updates.

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