NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #19/NN_1992_19.iso/spool/misc/activism/progress/6174

Text File | 1992-08-30 | 10.2 KB | 233 lines

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Path: sparky!uunet!gumby!wupost!mont!pencil.cs.missouri.edu!rich
From: [e-mail] (Rich Winkel)
Subject: New Liberation News Service (autopost)
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*********************************************
Introducing NEW LIBERATION NEWS SERVICE. . .
(An Email User's Guide to NLNS)
*********************************************

>From a review of NLNS in UTNE Reader, September/October 92:

    "Contrary to one of the mainstream media's favorite
myths, people in their twenties are serious students,
activists, artists, environmentalists, feminists, and
socialists with a lot to say about social and racial
inequality, U.S. imperialism, women's rights, and other
important issues.

    Outside of the insular college paper and 'zine
community, however, there are few media outlets for left-of-
center people in their twenties. National magazines and
newspapers aren't exactly begging for radical youth
perspectives; when they do cover college activism, it is
often filtered through a mainstream baby boomer lens. Even
the alternative press could do a better job of rounding up
more youthful opinions.

    Standing out as one of the few forums where articles,
essays, editorials, and cartoons by politically conscious
young journalists and activists can receive national
attention is the New Liberation News Service. The
thoughtful, freshly written pages of NLNS shatter
steryotypes about young people and reveal committed
activists on campuses across the United States and Canada. A
grass-roots news service that collects articles from radical
college and community newspapers and distributes them to
more than 150 subscribing papers, NLNS is run on a
shoestring budget by a tiny, twenty-something staff. In an
age when right-wing think tanks dole out big bucks to keep
conservative campus newspapers thriving, the information
NLNS provides to struggling progressive papers and their
readers is invaluable."

------------------------------------------------------------


    On September 21, 1990, New Liberation News Service
packet #1 was released to several dozen small student and
community papers across the United States. For the first
time in a decade progressive, grassroots media outlets were
offered a wire service that brought them news, commentary,
investigative work and graphics from outside the pale of the
mainstream press.  NLNS, from the outset, has been
emminently affordable, extremely provocative and maverick in
the best sense of the word. The response to the project,
particularly during the Gulf War media clampdown, was fast
and furious. Entering our third year, NLNS has over 150
subscriber publications and radio stations--with a combined
audience of over a million people in the United States and
Canada.

    The credit for this success stems from the existence of
hundreds of new media projects that have sprung up since the
mid-80s. Shut out of both mainstream and left establishment
media, a new generation of young activists created forums
for their ideas, their hopes, and their struggles--on their
terms. The explosion and accesibility of desktop publishing
technology put the power of the press within reach of more
and more people. Some of these papers were single-issue
based, focusing on anti-apartheid or Central American
solidarity struggles, while others covered a wide spectrum
of issues. What they all had in common was a deep-seeded
belief in the right of average people to have access to a
grassroots media unmuddied by corporate or governmental
bias.

    But these early media projects were extremely difficult
to maintain. Many depended on limited advertising markets to
raise the money they needed to publish on a regular basis.
To compete with larger, more flashy media operations meant
broadening their content to include both local and national
issues. The burden of assuring their readers breadth as well
as depth of coverage without access to an international wire
service geared to their needs (and price range) was a
heavy one. And their need to communicate with other
newspaers and share skills and ideas remained high. The
attrition rate for small grassroots publications remains
high to this day for these and many other reasons. In short,
no one was out there who could act as both a SOURCE of
progressive news and views, and a CONDUIT for movement
building ideas and skill sharing. Good local papers need
both to survive--even more than they need money.

    Then came NLNS. And we killed several birds with one
stone. Few of us were surprised at the instant demand and
glowing publicity for the project. Still, building NLNS from
the ground up has been difficult work. During our first
year, with almost no funding, we managed to provided only a
bare-bones monthly wire service. The second year saw NLNS
stretch to a bi-weekly format, experiment with 15 minute
radio feeds, dive head-first into providing electronic
dispatches, including two of our own conferences on
Peacenet, and we even managed to scrape up enough money to
pay most of the bills.

    For those of you unfamiliar with NLNS, our basic
functioning is pretty simple. Many of our subscribers mail
us their publications, indicating what they feel is their
best work. To that basic setup, we add work from a growing
network of correspondents and contributing graphic artists,
as well as some work produced inhouse.  The final packet,
usually 20-30 pages' worth, is mailed out to our subscribers
every other week with full reprint rights.

    A growing number of publications receive the text
portion of our packets over electronic mail. This is an
arena which holds much promise, with instantaneous
transmission of news, ideas--and in the not to distant
future graphics and pictures--available to anyone with a
computer and a modem. NLNS will be there, at the cutting
edge of technoogy, keeping true to our aim of providing as
much news, as often and as cheaply as possible.

    As we enter our third year, we are excited about the
prospects for the growth and coalesence of independent,
progressive media. As the corporate-government media
monopoly grows ever stronger, small, independent media stand
as a last line of defense in providing a voice for the
disenfranchised. Support independent media in your
community: support them directly with your time or your
money. And help us help them. Get NLNS.

------------------------------------------------------------

Praise for NLNS

"An invaluable service - NLNS is one of the few
comprehensive voices with a progressive message reaching
students across the country"
            - Cynthia Peters, South End Press

"NLNS is an invaluble resource both to the progressive press
and to local organizers. NLNS increases our expectations.
Having NLNS makes us take ourselves more seriously. It puts
us in contact with the people around the country who are
struggling for the same things that we are struggling for.
And it highlights the much ignored student and youth press.
The writers have hands-on experience which makes their
articles important and interesting."
            - Jenny Brown, Gainesville Iguana

"A service like NLNS is long overdue.  NLNS has great
potential to educate and politicize the youths who are the
hope of progressive movements in this country.  It deserves
praise and support."
            - Joshua Cohen, Author of On Democracy

"The narrow spectrum of opinion, analysis, and reporting
constitute a significant barrier to the growth and
coalescence of popular forces concerned about the state of
the country and the world, and what lies ahead. NLNS is
exploring promising ways to expand these horizons, to
provide material and interpretation that are difficult to
find, and to encourage the kind of thinking and
participation that are essential if major problems are to be
confronted in a serious way.  It very much merits support,
in my opinion."
            - Noam Chomsky, MIT Professor of Linguistics
___________________________________________


How to Get NLNS

    NLNS offers subscriptions to alternative community and
student publications, mainstream newspapers, and
individuals. In addition to the basic service, we can
usually be of assistance to small media outlets, with
anthing from research help on investigative stories to
advice on how to fight off attacks from nasty student
governments to late-night calls about libel and slander.
Just give us a call. We never sleep!

    NLNS operates primarily as a news service for
grassroots media. Our subscription rates are based on the
needs of these papers. In order that we may continue this
mission, we ask that larger media groups pay a slightly
higher rate so that these members may sustain us while we
provide low cost services to small alternative presses. Even
so, the $10 a month represents HALF of what the original LNS
charged over twenty years ago. For every basic membership,
or for every 5 individual subscriptions, we can serve a
financially struggling media outlet that can't afford
anything. In keeping with our mission, we have never, and
will never deny our service to any media outlet based on
their inability to pay. Due to increasing public demand,
NLNS has created an individual subscription-- which allows
folks who just like to read "the best of the grassroots
press" with a monthly compendium of our best stories.

Individual Subscription             $25/year (12 issues)
Basic Membership                    $120/year
Low Income Membership          $25 - $50/year
Canadian Basic Membership    $200 Canadian/year

*NOTE: This rate sheet applies to the Internet and Peacenet
versions of NLNS

New Liberation News Service
P.O. Box 41, MIT Branch
Cambridge, MA 02139
[phone]
EMAIL: [e-mail]