Indymedia.ie to expand into local collectives - PR practitioners should take note
Published June 16th, 2005 in PR in IrelandIndymedia.ie announced today that they are formalising their operating rules. As part of the announcement they mention that they are on the verge of updating their software which will enable them to expand Indymedia Ireland. The ultimate aim of which is to start local collectives with their own newswires.
In my opinion more organisations and their respective PR firms will sit up and take notice of Indymedia. The Internet has been a revelation for activist groups because it has allowed them to organise themselves on a greater scale and share information more freely, thus becoming a much more effective unit.
This isn’t all bad for PR firms though because they can get a much better sense of who they are dealing with. They can see who the figureheads in the activist groups are, hear their grievances and monitor what is being said about their client. Therefore PR practitioners will become more effective as a result as they will hear the breaking news as it happens and be kept up-to-date with all the issues.
That is so long as they pull their thumb out and become aware of sites like Indymedia.ie
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I disagree. The indymedia model is little more than cheap, unsubtantiated raving and propaganda
A lot of people say that about plenty of activists. However, using Indymedia you can become familiar with key spokespeople within various organisations, find out what their key messages are and see what they’re doing.
I wouldn’t be so dismissive of it. I do agree that plenty of the reports that come in through Indymedia are from one perspective, but it offers a forum for a lot of groups to air their opinions.
It’s worth reading through a lot of the garbage to find a few gems. I’d half agree with your persepctive that Indymedia is failing to achieve what it set out to do. However, in my opinion, there’s no way such a model can operate without flaws. You’ve also got to admit that some good stuff is coming out of it.
I can only comment on what’s going on in Indymedia Ireland, and frankly it’s disturbing. The problem with the model is that its beholden to the editorial collective to allow what they see as fit onto the public newswires, or to cover what falls into view within their blinkered worldvision. In coming with such bias and ideological baggage, their model is not just as poor as that of say Fox news, but it’s worse - but they’re accountable to no-one. Can you honestly see Indymedia providing technical support for the sisters of Robert McCartney or Irish Victim Support or the Orange Lodges of Northern Ireland? The key spokespeople you mention are frequently just pseudonyms (though I admit I learnt the name of the leader of the Irish Traveller’s Support Group, I could have learnt that from Google or RTE News). There were plenty of great stories that Indymedia could have done in ireland and did nothing (nursing home scandal, older Irish immigrants in the UK, Margaret Hassan, anti-social behaviour on housing estates), instead concentrating on Iraq, Israel and George Bush. RTE’s Primetime beats them hands down without even trying. Where were Indymedia Ireland on that poor child abandonned in Indonesia? Nowhere. Globally, even the biggest scandal of the Iraq war, INMHO, wasn’t broken by Indymedia, but by members of the US military using the very same technology that’s in the hands of the indymedia brigade. Indymedia also very much an internet-based concept in Ireland - which immediately disenfranchises a lot of community groups on the ground. I think what IS important is that community groups adopt the technology of independent media publishing themselves and use it holistically and honestly as part of a wider campaign of information and activism.
It’s the community groups that I’m talking about.
They’re some great points about Indymedia in general. I’m suprised more people don’t use it in such a fashion.
indymedia ireland watch
‘Can you honestly see Indymedia providing technical support for the sisters of Robert McCartney’
Obviously you don’t read the site much - they did post their info and comments on the site.
‘Margaret Hassan’
again, you’re not paying attention - they did a feature on her.
could go on, but no point since you obviously don’t know much about the site.
The site is based on open publishing and as long as one keeps to the clearly stated rules anyone can publish there. So all your whinging is just that - whinging. If you contribute nothing, nothing appears.
indymedia ireland watch just admit you don’t like IndyMedia’s perspective, that would be more honest.