As anyone who’s ever been involved in activism knows, mainstream media is rarely your friend. Earlier this evening I watched an ABC News Nightline report from 2/18/2011 on the protests, which left me a little sick to my stomach. As if it weren’t enough for the the anchor, Cynthia McFadden, frame the issue in ways that reinforces the “budget crisis” narrative championed by Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, her patronizing snarkiness just about got me to shut the TV off right then and there. Luckily, the actual reporter does a decent job for a mainstream journalist, even if he never challenges anyone about anything — straight up mainstream journalism: let “different” voices speak and provide no analysis or critical engagement. So much for the principles of journalism.
A little later on did some poking around on You Tube for some voices from people on the ground, actually involved in the protests. I came across a video by a 22 year-old student at the University of Wisconsin – Madison. She begins her video like this:
Alright…I have never made a video blog before and I don’t intend to make a habit of it, but my name is Anna, I am 22 years old and I live in Madison, WI and I’d like to address the current protests that are going on . . . I don’t believe that the national news cycles have been doing a very good job of covering this . . .
Anna the proceeds to lay out the actual case being made by protesters on the ground. While I can understand her desire not to make a habit of making video blogs, I hope she might reconsider. Impressive stuff. Here she is:
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