In a thrilling example of using the media to promote justice, a handful of human rights advocates from St. Stephen’s Human Services took video cameras to the streets of the Twin Cities to capture reactions to a proposed bus fare increase among people earning low or no incomes. The Southwest Journal (and sister publication the Downtown Journal) reports that the group filmed no fewer than 409 30-second videos and posted them on their YouTube page, spurring the Metropolitan Council to reconsider its 25-cent fare increase and seek cost-cutting alternatives.
This hands-down media justice victory has a number of noteworthy aspects:
- It offered people a chance to weigh in on a policy decision before rather than after the decision was made. By contast, the mainstream media encourages depoliticization by telling us about policies after decisions have been made when it’s too late to affect them.
- Requiring only a videocamera and Internet access, this project was relatively cheap and easy to do.
- It allowed people to speak in their own words.
- The media makers went to the people rather than requiring that people come to them.
- It sought the perspectives of the people who would be most affected by the policy, while the mainstream media relies more heavily on the perspectives of elected officials and other elites.
- It did not try to be “neutral” or “objective,” but helped broaden an existing conversation by airing voices normally not heard, creating a richer understanding of an issue for everyone.
The St. Stephen’s workers who initiated this probably didn’t think of themselves as “the media,” but they became the media for a targeted purpose, proving that anyone (and everyone) can wield the tools of communication.
The two community newspapers that were willing and able to cover this act of media ingenuity also deserve kudos!
If there were a grassroots media award, I’d give it to the folks at St. Stephen’s for reminding us that media matters and that everyone should have a voice.
