Upcoming Social Event

Saturday’s presentation by Medea Benjamin was well-attended in spite of freezing rain and snow conditions.

This Friday 2/22/19 at 7 PM there will be a social gathering of people interested in media reform at 3707 Pennsylvania in Kansas City. There will be a potluck, so if you can bring something, that would be fine.

Potluck 2/22/19 – 7 PM.

Important Event Saturday 2/16/19

Medea Benjamin – Building a Peace Movement in an Era of Endless WarSaturday February 16, 6:30pmAll Souls UU Church, 4501 Walnut, Kansas City, MO 64110
Medea is co-founder of Code Pink and Global Exchange. She’s famous for her gutsy confrontations with powerful plutocrats, an expert on the Middle East, a leader in the peace movement and she is a frequent guest on KKFI’s Democracy Now. Her most recent book is Inside Iran; The Real History and Politics of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The Saudi Arabia book was published in 2016.

Meeting to discuss news entity

Spencer Graves has set up a meeting at All-Souls on Wednesday to discuss our shrinking news environment and solutions. Here’s the text of his message:

Hello, All:

      I’m primarily focused on trying to organize a local nonprofit 
news organization to replace the shrinking Star.  The Institute for 
Nonprofit News (inn.org) is hosting a “Town Hall” to describe how 
different communities are doing this.  You can sign up to participate in 
this from anywhere via 
“https://inn.org/event/inn-town-hall-possibilities-in-nonprofit-news/“.

      Or you can come to the Conover Rm in All Souls UU Church this 
Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2 PM.  A group of us will watch it together there 
and then discuss what, if anything, people want to to here about this.

      The Kansas City Star will reportedly be laying off up to 50 more 
employees, shrinking from 250 to 200 (down from 2,000 in 2007).  INN is 
a network of close to 200 nonprofit newsrooms and is ideally placed to 
help new ventures like this.

      However, if we can improve the media, it will be much easier to 
make progress on virtually all our other concerns.

      Spencer

Monthly social – potluck – planner

Friday 12/14/18 7 PM  3707 Penn.

A monthly get-together with people interested in the media. Food, friends, discussion.  Continuing the discussion of a series on the media for 2019.

We discussed have a monthly series of programs themed, “Do You Trust Your Media” which would have a panel discussion, or guest speakers.  Some ideas we kicked around were:

  • Legal Issues in the Media – where we could invite experts like Robin and encourage discussion;
  • Conversion Therapy in the Media – how media uncritically cover fundamentalist “conversion therapy” which attempts through torturous ways to convert homosexuals away from the way they were born;
  • Religion in the Media – how some religions are covered in the more “equally” and accurately than other religions;
  • Media – for Profit, or Not-for profit – difficulty and successes of some independent media and why they are successful or fail;
  • Why do Conservatives and Progressives Hate the Media – panel discussion of people from opposite points of view on the media – could be lively;
  • Honesty in Reporting – Is there really such thing as “objective media” and how do we tell?;
  • Panel of People Who Have Left the Media – forced out or quit like those recently from channel 4 and the Kansas City Star.  And what are their perspectives on the place they left and media in general.
These are just a few ideas on programs for 2019 and we need more topics to fill out the year.  We targeted the first of the series for the 18th of January and discussed looking for a good venue to have these presentations.  Ideas on a location are needed preferably a place that might allow drink, and light food.  More media topics are needed, and we decided to discuss this further at our next social event / pot luck.
Decided to have the next potluck on the 14th of December (next week) at 3707 Penn. 7 PM.

National Viewing Party 10/1

Just got this notice from the event people:

Congratulations!

You’ve been selected as one of the 50 winners to receive POV’s special Dark Money party pack! 🎉🎉🎉 You’ll be receiving snacks, a

POV mug, coasters, a pen and a tote plus some vintage POV memorabilia in addition to Dark Money swag. We hope you’re looking forward to munching on some gourmet 🍿🍿🍿 and 🍫🍫🍫 while you and your friends watch the premiere on October 1st. Your swag should arrive within 10 days. Try not to eat up the snacks prior to the broadcast! 😋😋😋

Make the most out of your viewing party with our Dark Money companion materials:

  • Discussion Guide: Includes background information on dark money and campaign finance, as well as discussion prompts, tips for taking action and a resource list.

  • Lesson Plan: In this lesson plan for educators, students will examine a case study about how corporate donations to American political campaigns influence elections.

  • Reading List: Delve deeper into the issue of campaign finance with this list of fiction and non-fiction books for adults and younger readers.

Help spread the word to your community so they may join in the conversation as well with the Dark Money National Viewing Party Social Media Toolkit. This toolkit contains sample posts for Facebook and Twitter, plus photos.

Be sure to use the hashtag #DarkMoneyFilmPBS, so we can see your post and don’t forget to take a photo with your new swag and tag us using @POVdocs.

We look forward to hearing your voice on October 1st!

If you have any questions concerning the Dark Money National Viewing Party or your Dark Money party pack, feel free to email us at events@pov.org.

T-Shirts

Friends of Community Media has T-shirts for sale at $ 15.00.  Contact us at savethemedia.org.

The shirt says that media are the enemy of the venal (who seem to be in charge these days).   Defined as:  Capable of being bought or obtained for money or other valuable consideration :purchasable; especially : open to corrupt influence and especially bribery : mercenary   Example:  A venal poltician.