[Organize] urgent - august6 national media coordination

[david meieran]

before the advisory goes out, i'm hoping we can identify a few  
principles to guide the national media coordination. i have a few  
concerns and i would like to hear what others have to say about them.

1. emphasize local over national voices

personally i would like to see the national media coordination  
amplify and project the voices of local & regional organizers. i  
believe that was the premise of the original agreement that tara  
crafted and that we as a loose-knit coalition consensed to, and i  
don't think there was any change of heart voiced by anyone in the  
last few conference calls.

with that in mind, i feel very strongly that UFPJ should not drown  
the local & regional voices. the latest draft of the advisory  
suggests a trajectory that i am uncomfortable with. here are two  
simple ways that UFPJ can address the concern: a) by pro-actively and  
conscientiously directing inquiries and pushing forward local/ 
regional organizers and b) by having its national coordinator sit  
this one out, especially in such venues as DN!. I have nothing  
against leslie, but i think it's very important that other voices be  
heard. it doesn't feel like a "movement" if the same voice is heard  
again and again, and, in fact, the media could perceive this effort  
as "more of the same, nothing new here" and hence not report on it.

2. clear emphasis on bechtel

as the minutes from our media conference call suggest, highlighting  
bechtel and connecting the dots were clear priorities. some of us are  
hoping this will not be a one-off affair, but rather the start (or  
rather a continuation, if you consider the work that antonia and DASW  
and other Bay Area groups have done over the past few years...) of a  
campaign against bechtel. bechtel has an achilles heel, and i think  
this weekend's actions can transform DASW et. al.'s nibbles into a  
bite and from there a...feast?

oh, related to that - are folks comfortable saying something like  
"this is just the beginning" or "we'll be back" or "bechtel won't be  
able to hide..." or whatever...?

3. transparency

we didn't discuss this on the conference call - but i hope folks will  
agree with the need for transparency. that means, for example, that  
there is some attempt to keep folks in the loop about media  
opportunities and how they are met. (such as through this list)

4. local releases

can folks post their local releases to the website for the "press  
room"? if you create an account you can create content (select  
"story") - but if you don't want to deal with that just email your  
release to this list and steve or susan or i will post it.

thoughts?
dm