STORY posted on July 17, 2009 by dawn
Call for Submissions: Media Co-op and Dominion coverage of the 2010 Olympics
Get your pitch in before July 27th!
Also posted by dawn:
Also in :
The Dominion is seeking pitches for our special issue on the 2010
Olympics. Submit your pitch by July 27th!
Some of the issues that we hope to cover in the lead up to the games include:
-Native land rights struggles in occupied BC
-Ecological effects of the Games
-Olympics and nationalism
-Displacement and the Games
-The corporate media and the Olympics
-Torch activities
-The Games and the Economic Crisis
-The costs of "Securing" the Games
-Effects of Olympics on municipal and provincial budgets
-Labour and the 2010 Games
-Resistance to 2010
-Beneficiaries of the Olympics
-Articles that put the games into a historical context, in Canada or elsewhere.
If you would like to write on one of these topics, or pitch us
something different, please read on!
We're looking for pieces in a variety of different of formats, not
limited to: briefs (150 to 200 words), articles (800-1000 words),
infographics, graphs and maps, comics, and illustrations, and we plan
to have video and audio content online to supplement the special
issue. The Dominion has a modest budget to pay writers and
contributors whose pitches are accepted.
If you've got an idea for something you'd like to contribute for the
Dominion's Olympics special issue, please submit your pitch here
before July 27:
http://www.mediacoop.ca/node/add/pitch
Background on the Vancouver Media Cooperative and The Dominion.
The Vancouver Local of the Media Co-op is being launched this summer.
By 2010, it will be a node for unembedded coverage of the Olympic
Games. We encourage writers, researchers and journalists to create an
account and share information and coverage about the 2010 Games.
http://vancouver.mediacoop.ca/
The Dominion, the flagship publication of the Media Co-op, will
publish a special issue about the Olympics in November 2009. Thousands
of copies of the issue will be printed and distributed through
grassroots networks across Turtle Island in November 2009. Previous
special issues of The Dominion have received critical acclaim for
their coverage of Canadian foreign policy, the Athabasca tar sands,
and the Canadian mining sector.
http://dominionpaper.ca/
Call for participation and input: Olympics Special Issue
"In Canada, you will find a nation that works every day towards
creating the conditions of the Olympic ideal." --Jean Chrétien
The "Olympic Ideal" is part of one of the world’s most successful
marketing campaigns, built around concepts that almost everyone can
agree upon: world-class amateur sport and peaceful competition.
But a rising chorus of critical voices say that the Olympics are
deeply implicated in the expropriation of land, money and resources.
From movements demanding "No Olympics on Stolen Native Land" to angry
business owners, resistance to the Olympics economic and social agenda
is growing.
The Olympics budget includes a billion dollars for security. A billion
dollars each will be spent on a new convention centre, a larger
highway to Whistler, and SNC Lavalin's rail link from the Vancouver
airport to downtown.
In the political and economic maneuvres leading up to the 2010
Olympics, a different "ideal" has been revealed – one of exclusive
contracts, sponsorship deals, displacement, social cleansing, and
corruption. At times, sport seems like an afterthought.
Many of the real stories behind the Olympics remain to be told.
The Media Co-op and The Dominion want to know what kinds of critical
coverage you want to see. Add your ideas as a researcher, a resident,
or a reader, and check out what idea others are contributing by
visiting our online discussion:
http://www.mediacoop.ca/olympics/coverage
We want to hear from you! Join the Olympics working group at
http://vancouver.mediacoop.ca/Olympics or email olympics@mediacoop.ca
with your story suggestions and ideas.
If you want to support independent coverage of the 2010 Games, please
consider becoming a sustaining member of the Media Co-op by visiting
http://www.mediacoop.ca/join.
The site for the Vancouver local of The Media Co-op has been archived and will no longer be updated. Please visit the main Media Co-op website to learn more about the organization.