Ep. 24: Highlighting Alternative Media - The Moral Limits of Dunking on Thomas Friedman

Here at Citations Needed we enjoy nothing more than ragging on corporate media - indeed, it’s our primary job. But can constant snark and negativity breed cynicism? Recent feedback from some of our listeners has us wondering if the act of media criticism need also make room for some media complimenting, lest we succumb to the forces of defeatism.  

In this episode, rather than critiquing the myriad problems with the corporate press, we decided to highlight two smaller media organizations fighting back against tremendous forces - in this case, environmental destruction of native lands and the carceral state – by building alternate systems of communication, news-gathering, storytelling, and organizing. 

Guests

Jade Begay is a filmmaker and media strategist with Indigenous Rising Media, an Indigenous Environmental Network Project. She is also currently a Sustainability and Justice Communications Fellow at Resource Media.

Jay Donahue is a member of Critical Resistance, a national grassroots organization building a movement to abolish the prison industrial complex. The Abolitionist newspaper, a publication distributed free of charge to over 5,500 people in prisons, jails, and detention centers throughout the United States, is a project of Critical Resistance.

The Organizations

Learn more about the organizations highlighted in this episode, sign up for their newsletters, and donate to support their work.

Indigenous Rising Media

Critical Resistance

The Abolitionist

Show Notes

American Views: Trust, Media and Democracy

January 16, 2018 | Knight Foundation / Gallup

To Witness Indigenous Rising

Briana L. Urena-Ravelo | December 20, 2016 | Medium

Anti-Trump U.S. coalition tells U.N. climate talks: 'we're still in'

Alister Doyle | November 9, 2017 | Reuters

Abolishing Policing in Oakland

Critical Resistance | October 13, 2017 | True Leap Press / Propter Nos

Why Are American Prisons So Afraid of This Book?

Jonah Engel Bromwich | January 18, 2018 | The New York Times

Texas Prisons Ban 10,000 Books. No ‘Charlie Brown Christmas’ for Inmates.

Matthew Haag | December 7, 2017 | The New York Times

Ban on Book About Mass Incarceration Lifted in New Jersey Prisons After A.C.L.U. Protest

Jonah Engel Bromwich & Benjamin Mueller | January 8, 2018 | The New York Times

Amid ACLU Protest, NC Prisons Will Remove The New Jim Crow From Banned Books List

Sarah Willets | January 23, 2018 | INDY Week

Also, check out the Allied Media Conference