Female musicians build following . . .

... through Facebook, reported NPR's Laura Sydell in 2010. The report discusses cellist Zoe Keating and singer-songwriter Suzanne Vega.

You Tube Stars Rake in Big Bucks

What the Buck? Here's Michael Buckley's "My You Tube Story." According to a Dec, 2008 New York Times report, Buckley earned over $100k in the previous year (plus a development deal from HBO)  from his YouTube video-rants about celebs.

YouTube star Lisa Donovan or ""Lisa Nova"has talent for sketch comedy and parodies. Like Tina Fey, she liked to play Sarah Palin, including in this famous McCain/Palin rap.

Cory Williams and his smpFilms hit the bigtime with "Hey Little Sparta" (aka "The Mean Kitty Song" -- almost 70 million views). He told the NYT in 2008 that he was earning over $200k per year, partly from (ugh!) product placements in his videos.

For years, my 16-year-old daughter's favorite YouTube star and main source of daily news has been Philly D (of "The Philip DeFranco Show"), who offers his take on current events and celeb news. Should I be monitoring my daughter's online activities better?

Become a YouTube Star and appear in a hugely popular music video with Weezer or the earlier one from Barenaked Ladies.

"Where the Hell is Matt?" became so popular, the guy has had his travels paid by corporate sponsors for years.

Web Censorship/Persecution in China

After Yahoo provided info to China's government that led to the imprisoning of two Chinese dissidents in 2002 and 2004, the families of the victims sued Yahoo. As a result, Yahoo announced in 2008 that it was establishing a fund for people jailed in China for posting human rights views online. Too little, too late?

In response to demands from China's government, Google agreed in June 2010 to quit automatically switching its users in China to Google's uncensored Hong Kong search site. But there's a tab users can click to be switched. Should Chinese citizens feel safe to hit that tab?

Web Censorship in the USA

The media reform group Free Press highlights media and telecom corporations caught censoring web or cellphone traffic.

Inner City Press, a monitor of Wall Street and the United Nations, temporarily is delisted from Google News. The de-listing happened soon after Matt Lee of Inner City Press challenged Google over its commitment to free expression.

In 2007, consumer rights groups mobilized to tell the Federal Communications Commission: "No More Media Consolidation." CommonCause was blocked from placing an anti-consolidation ad on My Space, which Rupert Murdoch had bought in 2005 (and later sold at a huge loss). The banned ad featured a photo of Murdoch and the caption: "This is the face of Big Media." Was it "My Space" or "Murdoch's space"?

Guest Speaker William Jacobson

Cornell law professor William Jacobson is a conservative political blogger with a national following. He launched Legal Insurrection.com in 2008, and CollegeInsurrection.com in August.   

Cartoonist Tom Tomorrow....

... syndicated his This Modern World cartoon to alternative weeklies in different parts of the country.  But when an "alternative" weekly chain cancelled his cartoon, he was financially hurt. (Luckily, he was soon asked to do a Pearl Jam album cover.)

Formulaic News

A BBC correspondent lampoons and deconstructs the sameyness (and cliches) of  mainstream TV news reports.

Will Pay Walls Around News Content Work?

No, says Arianna Huffington in May 2009 U.S. Senate testimony. And here's "Life After the Pay Wall" nightmare scenario from Advertising Age.  (A former indy media student complained about Boston Globe's paywall around the Globe's editorial.)

Bloggers' Rights to Access

In March, a Massachusetts court ruled that blogger deserve the same privileges in covering courts and trials as traditional media. (H/t former student Bianca N.)

"The Internet Is My Religion"

Dazzling speech from Brave New Films' Jim Gilliam (who was raised a conservative Christian evangelical) discussing how the Internet offered him salvation -- and literally saved his life.

Pre-financing of indy media projects

Spot.Us involves the community in funding watchdog journalism, and was founded in 2008 by David Cohn.

Kickstarter.com is "a funding platform for artists, designers, filmmakers, musicians, journalists, inventors, explorers..." A key aspect of Kickstarter and similar funding platforms is "All or Nothing funding."

On Kickstarter, a project must reach its funding goal before time runs out or no money changes hands. Why? It protects everyone involved. Creators aren’t expected to develop their project without necessary funds, and it allows anyone to test concepts without risk.

"Iraq for Sale" documentary was...

...funded mostly by small donors BEFORE the documentary was made -- and example of grassroots pre-financing.

Paul Krassner's "The Realist"

The leading satire publication of the underground press -- a Mad magazine for adults -- was The Realist. My humble contribution in 1994. A famous Realist poster from 1963.

"Bloggers Bring In Big Bucks"

This Business Week slideshow in July 2007 discussed some of the most (financially) successful blogs at that time, whether covering technology, fashion, celebs, politics.  Almost all are still successful or more so today. (Here is the intro to the slideshow.)

From student blogs

New online source in Mexico, titled Mundo Narco, offers news on drug lords and gangs not found in mainstream press, relying on citizen journalists and sources to send in info (H/t Elma).

Strong headline on blog post about Northwestern University law and journalism students freeing an innocent man from life imprisonment for murder. (H/t Natalie).

Ramparts magazine of 1960s

One of the most explosive indy magazines of the 1960s, Ramparts, published photos of the impact of U.S. napalm (a chemical weapon that eats away human flesh) on Vietnamese civilians in Jan. 1967. Martin Luther King, Jr. credited those photos with being the spark that got him to break his silence and speak out loudly against the Vietnam War a few months later. Besides investigative journalism and scoops, Ramparts was known for its cover art.

1960s alternative sex/drugs advice columnist Dr. HIPpocrates . . .

...paved the way for "Savage Love"  column by Dan Savage in today's alternative weeklies.

Harassment of indy journalists continues today

Since the 1960s when the FBI and local police engaged in violence and constant harassment against "underground weeklies," repression against dissenting U.S. outlets has deceased. But it has certainly not ended, as in Minnesota during the 2008 Republican Convention. (Three years later, the journalists' suit against the police was settled, with $100,000 in compensation being paid by the St. Paul and Minneapolis Police Departments and the Secret Service. The settlement included an agreement by the St. Paul police to implement a training program aimed at educating officers regarding the 1st Amendment rights of the press and public, including proper procedures for dealing with the press covering demonstrations.)

Or as in Alaska, during the 2010 election for U.S. senator. An online reporter was handcuffed and detained for asking questions of the Alaska Republican senate candidate, Joe Miller. The reporter -- a well-known journalist in the area and founder of Alaska Dispatch -- was handcuffed by Miller's security personnel after a dispute over his questioning of the candidate about his role as a former part-time city attorney. Here's Alaska Dispatch's version of the detention. The critical reporting on Miller's past -- and this heavy-handed incident -- contributed to Miller's stunning defeat in the November election.

Occupy Wall Street, Journalists and the Police

HARASSMENT OF JOURNALISTS COVERING OCCUPY MOVEMENT: Citizen journalist with video camera tapes himself apparently getting shot by police rubber bullet while covering a seemingly peaceful lull Occupy Oakland (CA).

At Occupy Nashville, a reporter for the long-established weekly Nashville Scene was arrested for violating a curfew imposed by Tennessee's governor (a night judge questioned whether that's legal), was threatened with a "resisting arrest" charge, and was later charged with "public intoxication." Here's a report on the arrest from Nashville's big daily.

Between Sept 2011 and Sept 2012, more than 90 mainstream and independent journalists were arrested while covering Occupy protests in the U.S. -- as tracked by Josh Stearns of the media reform group Free Press. 

"THE MAYOR'S AFRAID OF YOU TUBE": In October 2011, hours after New York City authorities made a last-minute decision NOT to clear the Occupy Wall Street protesters out of Zucotti Park/Liberty Plaza, Michael Moore said this to MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell (begin 2:54 for context):

"One cop down there actually today. I asked...'Why don't you think the eviction happened?' And he said, 'Cause the Mayor's afraid of You Tube.'...The power of the new media, the media that's in the hands of the people -- that those in charge are afraid of what could possibly go out."

I.C. Grad Zack Ford, Today's Guest Speaker

I.C. graduate Zack Ford is the editor of ThinkProgress LGBT at the Center for American Progress Action Fund, hailing from the small town of Newport, PA. Prior to joining ThinkProgress, Zack blogged for two years at ZackFordBlogs.com with occasional cross-posts at Pam’s House Blend. He also co-hosts a popular LGBT-issues podcast called Queer and Queerer.

Students in country of Ithasia use Facebook to organize protests

As in faraway places like Tunisia, Egypt and Mexico, students on campus using Facebook to mobilize. Faculty protest letter here.  President's response here.

Margaret Sanger

Sanger is proof that media heroes are sometimes flawed. This article from Women's E-News discusses her flirtation with racist (eugenics-oriented) arguments in support of birth control.

Dinner with Amy Goodman

In the early 1900s, the socialist Appeal to Reason newspaper offered yachts, fruit farms and motorcycles as premiums to bring in revenue and subscriptions. Democracy Now! offers Dinner and a Show with Amy Goodman.

After meeting Amy at a dinner party, Regis and his sidekick acknowledge that their Regis and Kelly TV show is about "nothing."

Is Colbert the Upton Sinclair of today?

Stephen Colbert accepted the challenge of experiencing difficult working conditions. Here he is doing farm labor.

Students carry on Ida B. Wells' anti-lynching legacy

In last dozen years, Northwestern University journalism students and their professor have been instrumental in proving the innocence of many prisoners in Illinois, several of whom had been sentenced to death. Their investigative journalism sparked the ending of the death penalty in Illinois

Lynching prompted the classic Billie Holiday song,"Strange Fruit," which she recorded in 1939 over the objections of her record company: "Black bodies swinging in the Southern breeze, strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees." The song's lyrics were inspired by this photograph. Time magazine denounced he song as "musical propaganda."

Journalists Re-fight Old Battles

Sometimes journalism can help expose a problem -- like the jailing of people simply for being in debt -- thereby leading to reform. But other journalists -- years or generations later -- may have to keep exposing the issue...as these investigative journalists for the big mainstream daily in Minneapolis recently did.

"It's not a crime to owe money, and debtors' prisons were abolished in the United States in the 19th century. But people are routinely being thrown in jail for failing to pay debts. In Minnesota, which has some of the most creditor-friendly laws in the country, the use of arrest warrants against debtors has jumped 60 percent over the past four years, with 845 cases in 2009, a Star Tribune analysis of state court data has found."

I.F. Stone pointed out that some reforms don't happen except through the work of generations of journalists and democracy activists:

“The only kinds of fights worth fighting are those you are going to lose, because somebody has to fight them and lose and lose and lose until someday, somebody who believes as you do wins. In order for somebody to win an important, major fight 100 years hence, a lot of other people have got to be willing - for the sheer fun and joy of it - to go right ahead and fight, knowing you're going to lose. You mustn't feel like a martyr. You've got to enjoy it.”