Do-It-Yourself Media
When a group of girls from Boston got tired of hearing songs about women as sex objects or victims, they decided to take action. They came up with the idea of creating a radio station by and for girls. With some help from a youth media organization, they took their case all the way to the city mayor.
When a group of girls from Boston got tired of hearing songs about women as sex objects or victims, they decided to take action. They came up with the idea of creating a radio station by and for girls. With some help from a youth media organization, they took their case all the way to the city mayor.
The mayor was impressed, and the girls were given the green light to set up their radio station, R-LOG (540 AM), which they operate from their school. For three hours each day, R-LOG spins records that don’t slam women, and conducts interviews and phone-ins about issues girls care about.
Have you ever thought about creating your own media as an alternative to what’s out there? Imagine what you’d like to read, view, and listen to -- then venture into do-it-yourself media. Here’s how:
Get writing. Contribute your own stories to magazines. To try to get published, write a quick summary of your proposed article, making sure to start your pitch with a catchy paragraph that identifies a problem or your take on a news trend. Then send it to the magazine’s main editor and see what happens. To find the address of a magazine, look in the opening pages where the masthead -- the list of editors and staff -- is located.
Get creative. You can record your own songs or edit digital film on most computers these days. You can even start your own talk show on public access cable. And you don’t need tons of cash to start your own Website, blog, or zine that talks about your life and the issues that you and your friends deal with. Send the link to your friends and try to get the traditional media to write about your indie project for publicity and to drive people to your site.
Get support. Need help getting started? The Center for Media Literacy has tons of how-tos on creating your own media, from magazines to documentaries and news programs.
Adapted from Respect by Courtney Macavinta and Andrea Vander Pluym © 2005. Used with permission of Free Spirit Publishing Inc., Minneapolis, MN; 1-866-703-7322; www.freespirit.com. All rights reserved.
