Indy Media Watch

I previously quoted someone saying that one of the main reasons San Fransico Indy Media "attracts so much traffic... first and foremost is that we practice quality control."

It seems some terrible things (in this case reprinting typically dubious Arab news pieces) have managed to 'slip' through the quality control system.

Nevertheless, an editorial on SF Indy Media at least admits they have some way to go:

we have admitted some humility and decided we should learn some lessons from the corporate media. We believe there should be some culture of accountability within Indymedia and we are embarrassed that many corporate media organizations probably have better-defined codes of ethics than most IMCs.
...
We must have the honesty to admit where they do a better job than us (and consequently get levels of respect and attention which we do not).

This is of course something I have been (ahem) hinting at for some time. Kudos to SF Indy Media for being mature enough to realise this. Let's hope it turns into genuine action in which case best of luck to them. May the results be worthwhile for everybody and an inspiration to other problematic Indy Media sites.

Vancouver Indy Media has a problem.

They can't decide whether or not they have been over-run by Nazis. One reply on their site to a deluded site-administrator sums up the 'problem' nicely:

we here at Vancouver IMC have been managing fine for several years without your assistance.

No, you haven’t. This place is a cesspool of racist propaganda, warmongering homophobia and misogyny. You shame us all.

No harm is being done to the reputation of Indymedia.

Bullsh*t. You’re making us all look like Nazis. If people preach Nazism in your name, and you let them, the world will think you’re a Nazi. This is a *fact* of life. Do you want the world to think you’re a Nazi? Do you want the world to think that Indymedia is a Nazi propaganda distribution network, and that IMCistas are Nazi sympathizers?

If so, then do nothing about this. If not, then act. There is no third choice.

We accomplished a small miracle under challenging circumstances. We are growing at almost 20% per month.

So what? If anything, that makes what you are doing be even worse.The more people you reach with your Nazi message, the more people there will be who will believe that Indymedia is a Nazi propaganda machine, and that IMCistas are Nazis.

Fortunately, compared to SF-IMC, you’re still small, low traffic site. The last time I bothered to ask, which was a couple months ago, SF-IMC had had a little over 140,000 page views that day. Why does SF-IMC attract so much traffic? There are a number of reasons. First and foremost is that we practice quality control. You don’t. This not only drives away untold droves of potential readers, it reflects poorly on all of the rest of us. You are making all Indymedia look bad. You are damaging our credibility and infringing on our ability to do authentic journalism.

Our quality of submissions and comments is generally very high.

That is patently absurd. This place is routinely flooded with crap like this:

Advertisement for National Alliance:
http://vancouver.indymedia.org/news/2004/05/132517_comment.php

Holocaust denial:
http://vancouver.indymedia.org/news/2004/04/128847_comment.php

Glorification of ecocide:
http://vancouver.indymedia.org/news/2004/04/128987_comment.php

Celebration of Rachel Corrie’s death, repost of Horowitz spew:
http://vancouver.indymedia.org/news/2004/04/128713_comment.php

Warmongering:
http://vancouver.indymedia.org/news/2004/04/128990_comment.php

Softcore porn, gibberish, spam, racism, misogynist slurs:
http://vancouver.indymedia.org/news/2003/12/96152_comment.php

Homophobic slur:
http://vancouver.indymedia.org/news/2003/03/35426_comment.php#129188

Disinformation (title says one thing, article says another):
http://vancouver.indymedia.org/news/2004/04/128870_comment.php

War mongering, racism:
http://vancouver.indymedia.org/news/2004/04/128784_comment.php

Support for child abuse:
http://vancouver.indymedia.org/news/2004/04/129047_comment.php#129143

Repost from anti-Semitic website "La Voz de Aztlan":
http://vancouver.indymedia.org/news/2004/04/129202_comment.php

Anti-Semitic website "fortunecity.com/911/" returns the favor by linking to Vancouver-IMC
http://members.fortunecity.com/911/

Commercial advertisement
http://vancouver.indymedia.org/news/2004/04/129582_comment.php

Promotes right wing hate site
http://vancouver.indymedia.org/news/2004/04/129304_comment.php

War mongering
http://vancouver.indymedia.org/news/2004/04/129583_comment.php

Of course don't take my word (or that of the author above) for it. Go and wade through the site as well. If you're not back in ten minutes I shall say a prayer for your soul.

I'm also attaching the following image (screen capture taken five minutes before this blog entry) to help the reader make up their own mind. It's of Vancouver Indy Media's "Global News". Do you get the feeling the "Globe" is getting a tiny bit smaller these days? Or is nothing happening anywhere in the world except Israel?


Oh it seems they have one other problem as well - they are out of money. There is currently a plea for donations (including this truly scary 'advertisement') on their front page. Looking at current site content it sure looks like real value for money.

A disgraceful article on New Hampshire Indy Media reports that someone's daughter rented the wrong DVD. According to the article, it is clear evidence of an evil Zionist plot...

The other day my daughter surprised me by renting the acclaimed Michael Moore documentary, Fahrenheit 9/11. She knew that I was very anxious to see it, so she went to one of the local video rental stores and rented three movies of which Fahrenheit 9/11 was supposed to be one of. Her intention was that we could watch it as a family.

Well, you can imagine how upset I was to find out that the people in the video store in Concord, New Hampshire had rented out something other than Michael Moore’s Fahrenheir 9/11. They deceived her by renting out an movie entitled Fahrenhype 9/11, which is deceptively packaged to look exactly like the Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11.

Notice the deceitful tactics that the Zionists are using in order to prevent the American people from getting educated about the realities of the events of 9/11. Besides using Moore's photo on this DVD, they changed the spelling of Fahrenheit ever so slightly, just as the Mafia used to do years ago when they sold their phony watches and perfume. There obvious isn't much difference between the two!

When you have stopped laughing, consider the following.
First, apparently it's okay for Mike Moore to "ever so slightly" change the spelling of a Ray Bradbury classic's title to produce his propaganda, however it is not okay for anyone else to do the same in producing theirs.

Secondly, the piece goes on to claim:

included on this trashhype are interviews with officials from the American Enterprise Institute, an Zionist thinktank that presently has a great hold on our imfamous leader, George W.

Imfamous?
Bad spelling aside, apparently that's because George W. Bush spoke at one of their functions.

The author of the piece believes that (evil boogey boogey) Zionists are trying to convince the world that Mike Moore is wrong about 9/11 (sidenote: They're not the only ones). However, not only does the author believe Mike Moore is right in his assertions that George W was in bed with the Saudis, he also believes the Jews Zionists control George W.

I repeat the question: "Who exactly is Bush working for? - Is he Israel's bitch? Or the Saudis' bitch?". It seems our North Hampshire correspondent needs to think about it a little more. He might also want to work out how those pesky Zionists have also managed to control all the DVD stores when they must already be so busy controlling government, banks, the media and so on...

I'm not sure what worries me more. That Indy Media gladly publish pieces like this (which have predictably been echoed elsewhere (as being of 'local importance') on the Indy Media network - #1, #2 for starters) or that such a twisted person has a family and has evidently been breeding.

One of my readers sent me the following email with the accompanying image (text unedited except for correcting typos. Boldface my own):

Hi, I was travelling through Florence, Italy and saw an Italian Indy Media sticker on the wall of one of the major churches there. Besides the fact the sticker's placement had vandalized a sacred site, it was also interesting to see the slogan at the bottom - "No Alla Censura". This means 'no to censorship' in English and suggests this is such a problem in the first place. Italy, like America has a free-press and one can read virtually any political opinion in mainstream media from locally and abroad. This is before you factor in the Internet, which is not censored in any way in this country.

Indy Media seem to have a huge chip on their shoulder and feel that their views and opinions are being 'suppressed' or 'censored' by the mainstream media. Looking at your blog and the content of their sites, I can see all sorts of garbage which would never be published in any self-respecting publication. But this isn't because of censorship or suppression as they might suspect, it's simply because it's either not true, racist or downright offensive.

There is a clear difference between free-speech, which Indy Media apparently feels is denied them and hate-speech or stupidity, which Indy Media has constantly facilitated the distribution of. There are laws in some countries against yelling FIRE in a crowded theatre. They don't mean free-speech is hindered, merely that sometimes reponsibility has to take precedence. This is what Indy Media lacks, not freedom. Ciao!

I couldn't agree more.

For some reason, Belgium seems to possess a rising level of anti-Semitism.

BRUSSELS An Orthodox Jew who was secretary to a rabbi was shot and killed in Antwerp on Thursday amid concern about a rise in anti-Semitism following the stabbing of a Jewish youth in June.

Since then, it has been revealed that politicians are receiving death threats in relation to the Islam-related murder of artist Theo Van Gogh.

Over on Belgian Indy Media, it's not hard to see why this sort of incitement is tolerated - Homage to Arafat.

I also like the last photo in the series here where Arafat's Nobel Peace Prize is mentioned. Rather outdated isn't it?

Maybe they should have stuck to waffles...

Yasser Arafat is finally dead.

According to San Francisco Bay Indy Media:

For nearly five decades, Yasser Arafat was a larger-than-life figure for those who admired him as well as those who hated and feared him, or, to be more precise, for those who hated and feared the Palestinian view of history, justice, and politics.

Oh. I thought it was because Arafat was regarded as a terrorist mastermind.

Justice: Thanks directly to Arafat, Israeli children were murdered, and Palestinian children had nothing while Arafat's wife lives it up on millions of dollars of foreign aid money in Paris. Opponents were murdered and press freedoms were nil (anyone on so-called Independent Media paying attention?)

Politics: Arafat's death has led to a power vacuum and chaos in the Palestinian Government thanks to his dictatorial control over it even on his death-bed.

I for one never thought justice or politics were two words which would feature highly in Arafat's eulogy, but not so in San Francisco Bay it seems...

Tennesee Indy Media has run a piece calling on readers to "Stand with the people of Fallujah".

It doesn't specify precisely which people to stand with, so I won't make any speculations about Iraqi civilians or terrorist barbarians.

It does however make this astonishing statement:

"any males between the ages of 15 and 55 who go outside will automatically be killed by the U.S. soldiers".

Really?

Is the deliberate indiscriminate killing of civilians by the US Army another 'Indy Media Scoop'? Or is there perhaps another reason (ahem) this allegation was never reported by the (evil corporate scum) mainstream media?

Whilst it's probably fair to assume most Indy Media types aren't hoping for George W Bush to win the Presidential election, according to the Indy Media hosted League of Pissed Off Voters, protests were to be held no matter who won the US Election. They issued a:

Call to action in response to any one of several possible scenarios:

1. a disputed winner of the Presidential election, massive voter disenfranchisement or election fraud
2. a Kerry win
3. a Bush win

No matter what happens, we will demonstrate for truth and accountability

Umm... Guys? Get over yourselves...