PNN Journalist/Graduate of POOR's Race, Poverty and Media Justice Internship
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by Staff Writer To me, media justice is about people with privilege giving up some of their power and sharing skills and collaborating with people who don’t have that same access to get the untold stories told. I didn’t feel that most of the organizers of this media justice center, who had more privilege, access and media skills understood this at all. They really didn’t even want to surrender just a little of the control they had over the creation of the Media Justice Center, which lead to the marginalization of poor people once again. This was evident in not only the space that we were given to make our “little†media in, but also in the fact that almost none of the organizers of the MJC, those who claimed over and over again to understand the concept of collaborative news making, attended community newsroom. It seemed like they felt above the whole process. They worked separately the whole time and isolated themselves and never really shared their skills with people unlike them, further perpetuating the digital divide and individualism- rather than breaking down these barriers to media justice. When it actually came down to sharing power to make media justice happen, most of these organizers weren’t willing to give up enough control to make this possible. I believe this is reflective of what’s happening in the world of activism today. To make a new U.S. and a new world it is necessary that we learn how to truly collaborate and work together; that we, the people with privilege and access- share our skills and those with experiences with poverty, racism, disability, etc. share their scholarship . |