Activists plan to become the media at DNC

Community-driven media organizations in Denver and Boulder are planning to provide activists and citizen journalists covering the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in August with a variety of resources, including a free computer lab, live radio and web feeds, production training and access to public television channels during the event.   


A recent post on the blog DNC Disruption 08, a self-described “online clearinghouse for radical and progressive groups” planning to organize at the convention, goes into detail about plans by local organization Denver Open Media and radio station KGNU to give members of the public tools to help them become the media when the Democrats and national press are in Denver:

Denver Open Media [DOM] will be opening its channels and webstreaming to the entire community during the DNC. DOM is temporarily waiving annual membership fee required to cablecast content on Denver’s local access channels, 56, 57, and 219. For the week of the DNC every voice can be heard in Denver and throughout the world via the Internet!


Denver Open Media will also be broadcasting live from our studios at 700 Kalamath following each day of the convention, from 5-9pm, allowing any independent journalist to drop-in and share photos, video and audio recordings, and in-person accounts of the day live on TV.



In addition, KGNU and Denver Open Media will be announcing special access to their video and radio resources for visiting independent media producers interested in covering the DNC, with live TV, Radio, and internet broadcasts. KGNU will be broadcasting live on the radio from 6-10pm from their Denver facility at 700 Kalamath, with drop-in interview slots open from 6-7pm daily.


Citizen journalism is not a new concept for Denver Open Media, which is composed of the Mile High City’s public access channels and is managed by Deproduction, a nonprofit that specializes in providing media trainings and resources to the public.

 

KGNU, a non-commercial Denver-Boulder radio station supported by listener donations, also has a 30-year history in the activist community as being a medium for alternative voices and news.


Along with both radio and television access, citizen journalists in Denver during the convention will also have daily access to a computer lab for Internet or production needs, thanks in part to Colorado Indy Media, a media outlet (with no relation to the Colorado Independent) for "the creation of radical, accurate, and passionate tellings of truth."

Erin Rosa was born in Spain and raised in Colorado Springs. She is a freelance writer currently living in Denver. Rosa's work has been featured in a variety of news outlets including the Huffington Post, Democracy Now!, and the Rocky Mountain Chronicle, an alternative-weekly in Northern Colorado where she worked as a columnist covering the state legislature. Rosa has received awards from the Society of Professional Journalists for her reporting on lobbying and woman's health issues. She was also tapped with a rare honorable mention award by the Newspaper Guild-CWA's David S. Barr Award in 2008--only the second such honor conferred in its nine-year history--for her investigative series covering the federal government's Supermax prison in the state. Rosa covers the labor community, corrections, immigration and government transparency matters. She can be reached at erosa@www.coloradoindependent.com.