VMC launches street news platform for Olympic resistance

http://www.mediacoop.ca/newsrelease/2642

For immediate release — Attention all news editors

February 8, 2010

Independent media outlet Vancouver Media Cooperative (VMC) announced today the launch of a brand new platform dedicated to covering news related to the city’s anti-Olympics resistance movements.

During the anti-Olympics convergence, journalists and activists will be covering the action as they see it and posting to 2010.mediacoop.ca.

From February 10-15 the VMC will also produce daily news clips for the general public, and print a daily broadsheet aimed at people participating in the Anti-Olympics convergence.

“We aim to provide a space for views and ideas that aren't afforded any in the mainstream press,” says journalist and Vancouver Media Co-op organizer Dawn Paley. “We’re using everything from print, to Twitter and videos, to traditional radio to get our stories out."

“Though the Olympics gave us a reason to get organized quickly, we’re here for the long term, not just for the Games,” said Franklin López of submedia.tv, who volunteers with the VMC. “Vancouver desperately needs a space for movement-oriented media makers to come together, and the Media Co-op offers that."

The street reporting platform at 2010.mediacoop.ca was first deployed during the G20 protests in Pittsburgh last fall, and it proved crucial not only as a reporting tool but as a communications platform for activists.

The Vancouver Media Cooperative is the second local of the national Media Cooperative network, which also publishes the monthly newsmagazine The Dominion.

On Friday, February 12th at 8pm, the VMC will be hosting a media lounge at Rhizome Café (317 E Broadway), where they’ll show up-to-the-minute videos of anti-Olympics actions around Vancouver.

For more info on the Vancouver Media Co-op, visit:

http://2010.mediacoop.ca // http://vancouver.mediacoop.ca // twitter @vanmediacoop // email vmc@mediacoop.ca