Alternative Media

The Independent published its first issue nearly 14 years ago. Back then we put out two issues a month of 24 pages each, circulating 10,000 copies in Durham. Today we circulate 50,000 copies each week throughout the Triangle, and our issues average 56 pages apiece.

So we're bigger and stronger with each passing year. We publish more articles, reach more people and have more influence. But some basic things are the same for us in 1997 as they were in 1983:

First, our mission, as ever, is to help build a just community here in the Triangle and in North Carolina. Here in the land of Jesse Helms - with our state's long history of racial discrimination, poverty, and narrow religious fundamentalism - a victory for humane values is critical. We want to contribute to that victory. Every ad we sell, every listing in our calendar, every story we write is aimed at winning that victory.

We are pragmatic, patient reformers, and in our pages you'll find a wide range of opinions. But all our coverage - from arts and culture to our cartoons to our blockbuster investigations to our endorsements - is informed by our progressive politics. It's where we start.

Second, here at The Independent we want to build a great place for good people to work. Financially we still struggle, but we pay a decent wage now and give excellent health benefits to our staff of 30. We're starting a pension plan for our employees for the first time this year. We want The Independent to be a place where someone can build a fulfilling work life over time.

All of us in the alternative media in North Carolina have a daunting, important task in front of us - and one that should be exciting, too. We need to uncover the stories the mainstream media are burying. We need to give voice to the voiceless. We need to fight for racial and gender equality, environmental protection, the liberation of gay men and lesbians, and an end to poverty.

At The Independent, fighting that battle is still a struggle every day. But it's still a heckuva lot of fun.

Top

At New Context Video Productions, I specialize in producing promotional, fund-raising and organizing videos for community-based social and environmental justice groups. I work from the understanding that genuine and positive social change is grounded in grassroots mobilization. Spreading those grassroots "pearls" of wisdom through quality communications resources is a vital component of that work. Thus, I work hard to ensure that the clients' message (along with any critical nuances) comes through clearly and powerfully.

New Context videos have been used to gather support for comprehensive campaign finance reform in NC, to promote the idea of using the NC State Employees Health Care Plan as the basis for a statewide single-payer system, and to encourage the establishment of direct-sell farmer's markets across the state. A video for the NC Minority Support Center has been seen by bankers, leaders of community development corporations and state legislators in small meetings and national conferences. It tells the inspiring story of the network of historically African American credit unions across North Carolina. It solicits financial and other support to undergird the vital services these credit unions offer to many low-income communities across the state. Other New Context productions have assisted with fund-raising and recruitment activities for community-based organizations such as the Durham chapter of Habitat for Humanity, the Self-Help Credit Union, Good Work, and the Interfaith Council for Social Services in Chapel Hill.

I hope that New Context Video Productions helps to address "Our" need to learn from the insights of the grassroots about how to build a more socially responsible and ecologically sustainable economy and culture. And though I have often mused that I am "trying to make a living doing videos for people that don't have any money," I know that getting a message across effectively (i.e. not distracted by the medium, but rather inspired through it) usually implies high quality planning, conceptualizing, shooting and editing. And coming up with ways to get a good video funded is often as much of a creative process as the video itself! But the end result, an effective and powerful video, can be exceedingly rewarding as more and more people have an opportunity to witness our pearls.

Top