[LabComm] Media Democracy Day

[Shannon Daub]

Hi all,

As several of you know already, I am involved in organizing Media Democracy
Day (MDD), which will take place this year on Saturday October 18 at the
Vancouver Public Library.

Our organizing group would like to increase the presence/involvement of
unions this year. I know everyone is extremely busy, so here¹s a brief
outline of what we¹re planning and some possibilities for involvement that
entail neither meetings nor a lot of work/time.

About Media Democracy Day:

MDD is organized by the BC chapter of the Campaign for Press and Broadcast
Freedom. Most of the Campaign¹s work has become focused around using MDD as
a vehicle for increasing public awareness about media issues and creating
opportunities for ³independent media² to network and gain access to a wider
audience. The first MDD was organized in Vancouver and Toronto in 2001. Last
year there were events held in over 20 countries.

In 2002 we organized a day of events that included: workshops, an
independent media fair, video screenings and an evening keynote panel. In
both 2001 and 2002 we had a full house, and in fact had to turn some people
away.

This year we are planning a similar structure, with an expanded program:
more workshops in two streams ­ skills and issues; a more extensive
independent media fair, hopefully with more labour publications present; an
evening keynote, possibly with Naomi Klein.

In addition, the BC Library Association and Canadian Library Association
recently passed resolutions endorsing MDD, and materials will be made
available to the general public via various libraries across Canada.

How unions can be involved:

* Participate in the independent media fair. Tables are available free for
display of union newspapers. It¹s a good chance to speak with members of the
general public, thanks to the VPL¹s provision of the promenade space, as
well as to those actively seeking alternative sources of information and
views.
* Consider promoting MDD to your members via an article in your newspaper,
email networks, or by enclosing the MDD poster in a mailing to locals/shop
stewards.
* Suggest ideas for workshops that would be useful to you/your members, or
otherwise offer input/ideas/feedback.

Anyone interested in being involved in planning/organizing MDD is welcome to
give me a call. 604-801-5509.

In solidarity,
Shannon Daub
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://bcfed.net/pipermail/labcomm/attachments/20030703/f1e49598/attachment.html>