As we are all aware by now, our nation is experiencing some pretty drastic circumstances. Our wars continue unabated. Our economy is in the toilet. Our two main political parties are locked in an ugly battle for control of the country. The citizens of this great union are divided and those of us without a bailout package are falling through the cracks.
Even more disconcerting, we the people don’t even know what’s really going on. From the press’ skewed coverage of health care reform, to its ADD-like obsession with the next big pop culture story, to its inability to challenge the status quo, it is increasingly clear that our mainstream media is not doing its job.
That’s why community media is so important. We need citizen journalists. We need reporters who are not told what to report by superiors that have a vested interest in creating an un- or misinformed public. We need media bodies that don’t answer to corporate bodies and fistfuls of money. We need accurate and representative information—not updates on Paris Hilton and celebrity babies, not sexy stories that focus strictly on the problems of South Seattle without depicting all the good, all the positive developments that take place here.
We create citizen journalists by starting early, by reaching our youth before MTV and all the rest have hypnotized them into complacency. YMI creates citizen journalists by not only teaching our youth technical skills to create media, but the issues surrounding and influencing media as well. We need them to understand the stakes, to understand why it’s so important for them to make their voices heard. We need young people to understand that media is more than simply a form of entertainment; it is a powerful social tool that they can use—and is currently being used bythe corporate elite—to transform their communities. It’s up to our youth to determine how this tool is used.
Why? Because our young people will one day be the legislators passing laws in or out of compliance with the Constitution, thejudges deciding how laws may be enforced, the protesters in the streets, fighting for justice and keeping watch over the future of our country.
Help us create citizen journalists. Support the Youth Media Institute by sending a tax-deductible contribution of $25, $50, $100 or more to:
Youth Media Institute
4408 Delridge Way SW #112
Seattle, WA 98106
or donate online by clicking on the link above.
Contact us at corinne@youthmediaseattle.org or by phone at (206) 762-2334 with any questions you may have. Be sure and include your address in your donation so we can send a thank you and receipt.
Thanks for all that you do,
Estevan
