Irish Indymedia launched

Over the last couple of years dozens of Indymedia web sites have sprung up across the globe. Anyone can go to one of these sites and add their own news story, photographs or even audio or video to the site. Anyone who visits the site can then view this.

After months of preparation an Irish Indymedia site was launched at the start of this year. Below James McBarron, a relative novice on the internet reviews the site to date.

There is nothing like reading a press report, listing to a radio report or watching a TV report of something you were involved in, particularly if it was oppositional politics. It doesn't matter if it was a service charges picket, a critical mass cycle protest, a sit-in or whatever. When you watch the state or capitalist media you don't recognise the event. It's different from the one you were at, there are mistakes, distortions or just damned lies. It's frustrating as hell.

That's why when somebody gets an alternative media outlet together where participants report on the action, where the journalists are working to an agenda of truth and wish to inform and publicise reality, then you're just blown away. 'Okay, you say, we have our left papers'. Yeah I know but watching footage of the Shannon protest, hearing the voices reading the truth is so refreshing. I was there - the report is real - the crap in the papers or local radio is just twisted. So viewing the Irish indymedia site was a pleasure and I know I can place a little trust in the site to do it's best to project the real story. Now I can go there to get the updates on actions and events taking place all around the country. As long as someone participating in an event is clued in enough to post the stuff to the website I'll get the story from the horses mouth. I'll be able to balance that against the media spin. Ain't that just great.

Everyone who ever challenged the powerful has been a victim of the establishment media, now we've got another place to get real news. The site for an internet novice like me is user friendly, welcoming and unthreatening. It is highly accessible and easy to recommend. Keep up the good work you guys.

www.indymedia.ie

This page is from the print version of the Irish Anarchist paper 'Workers Solidarity'. We also provide PDF files of all our publications for you to print out and distribute locally

Print out the PDF file of this issue

Print out the PDF file of the most recent issue

As well as writting a letter to us at WSM, PO Box 1528, Dublin 8 you can also comment on any of the articles in this issue at www.struggle.ws/wsm/comment.html

You can find out when new issues of the paper come out by joining the Ainriail list

This edition is No69 published in March 2002