WG/Media/Minutes/03102012

In attendance: Eli (facilitator), DSB, Dan (notes), Brett (kind of), Farhad, Rachel, Josh

• Go Around: What do we want to see out of these meetings?  What do we want to see out of a strategy?
  • Big goals and issues to focus on:
    • Get back to the message
    • Don't just focus on what the other WGs are saying
    • Capacity of media WG

• Rachel: reading from "Media as Direct Action" (Katie Davidson in Tidal (occupytheory.org))
  • DSB: Facebook is radical; the volume of users allows us to reach so many; recount of experience with discovering that Keystone XL had reemerged
  • Josh: What does creative, direct action information look like?

• Rachel: How awesome would it be for Media WG to focus on a different issue each week?

• For example, Occupy the T has an action on April 4. What can we do to create a message out of it?  We need to be aware of opportunities that we can create for ourselves and the opportunities that other WGs / the movement create for us

• Farhad: We're spending all of our time documenting stuff that people aren't even asking us to document, perhaps because of a sense of accountability.  Maybe we should be focusing on some of the opportunities we perceive.  Maybe we need to be clear to the movement—to be visible enough—that WGs HAVE to ask us to cover an event.

AGENDA:*Long term planning

• Sunday, April 1
• Wednesday, April 4
• Broader strategy for the spring

APRIL 4

• Purpose: Josh: This is about the MBTA, of course.  On the 4th, there'll be a People's Hearing at the State House.  Starts at 4pm, SH closes at 5pm.

• Goal of April 4:
  • Make clear to govt that we won't fold on this issue.
  • Demand that they address the issue; this is a State House issue

• Our goals as Media WG:
  • Mobilize people
    • Students
  • Connect MBTA cuts / austerity to the larger issue of Occupy / narrative
    • Money to bailed-out banks involved
  • Create the national campaign

• Brainstorm ideas for mobilizing (and assignments where appropriate)
  • (DSB) T spots on Public Access
  • (Eli) Scheduled texts to move people towards April 4
  • (Eli) Robocall on morning of
  • Facebook
  • Mic-checks
  • Internet ads
  • Outreach at existing actions, such as 3/18
  • (Rachel) Bombardment of letters to the editors
    • To each of the major community papers
    • Talk to people who are volunteers that aren't as involved
  • Coordinate with Occupier
  • Creation of videos as mobilizing tools
    • Ideas:
      • Hard video of mic-checks on the T
      • "production" mic-check - 1.5 to 2 minute-long video of T mic-checks 
      • Singing of Charlie on the MTA, create video?
      • (Josh + Farhad) Video of different stories of people who may be affected, such as at 3/14
      • Also a video for the national day of action

• Also needs to happen soon:
  • (Josh) Talking points
    • The three KILLER points
  • (Josh) Press training

• Day of:
  • (Dan) Track down who'll be there
  • (Dan + Eli) Streaming
    • Check to see what works where at the State House
  • HD video
  • (Dan) Live blogging? CIL? LTing?
  • (Gunner?) Press conference?
    • 1 for the beginning
      • Team guiding people to the media

• Afterwards:
  • Be aware of what might be coming up…
  • GA might attract media attention
  • We should have a time that we will meet, no matter what

• Overall narrative / framing
  • It goes both ways… if we're talking about transport, we tie it in to the bigger issues; if we're talking about the bigger issues, we talk about transport
  • Accessibility issue
  • Disenfranchisement
  • Disempowerment of marginalized communities
  • Service cuts = cut into the types of lives that people have been living
  • Finding specific, compelling stories of how people are threatened

• Request from Occupy the MBTA:
  • EMAIL OUR PLANS TO THEIR LIST

• This should be on every meeting agenda between now and A4