WG/Media/Minutes/120229

Media Meeting Notes - Wed Feb 29 2012

Present: Anna, David, DSB, Farhad, Deb, Gunner

Facilitator: DSB

Notetaker: Farhad

I. Media Lab (Gunner)

Tabled due to lack of quorum.

II. Facebook auto-posts to GA proposals (Farhad instead of Joshua)

Farhad: Right now the Wordpress blog gives folks the option of auto-posting to Facebook (Editor's note: I thought it had a similar option for Twitter, but it seems that I was incorrect). Facilitation recently spoke with a few of us asking if they should auto-post passed GA proposals to Facebook when the proposals are posted late to the blog. Sometimes they're a week or two late. The consensus seemed to be that late proposals should not be auto-posted to Facebook, but there was a spectrum of opinion about proposals in general.

Speaking personally, I feel like we shouldn't auto-post any proposals to any social media. They're often only of internal importance, and the posts lack context. Better to hand-post relevant proposals to social media than to auto-post all of them as a rule.

Deb: I don't know enough to weigh in on this.

Anna: I follow Occupy Boston on Facebook more than on the website, so I appreciate the posts. If nothing else, there should be something there that directs people from social media to the website to learn about passed proposals.

DSB: We could post this question to the Media list soliciting feedback for the next meeting.

Deb: I can do that.

(All approve.)

III. Livestream (DSB)

DSB: There's a livestream training scheduled for March 3rd. Not sure how well the word got out for that. This merits some kind of invitation.

Deb: It was moved to this Saturday due to lack of preparation, but it's definitely happening this week.

Farhad: I think all it needs is a blog post and social media promotion.

Deb: I think Eli said that he was going to do some of that.

Farhad: I know that he was working on a description. We should follow up with him to see if that's happening.

DSB: I can do that.

IV. OBIT's exchange with Media members (tabled until Gunner gets here)

Gunner: A couple of people reached out to OBIT. There was a response to the original group as well as a personal email to me apologizing. It appears that the breakdown came from a miscommunication with FAWG. They were not forthcoming about the whole chain of events, and I was the unfortunate person to be too helpful. The personal issue has been taken care of.

Going forward, I would suggest a once a month meeting with OBIT to stay on track. I'd make the same suggestion regarding OB TV and OB Radio. I can't coordinate as I need to step back some.

(All approve.)

DSB: There may be an agenda item for the next Media/OBIT joint meeting to discuss mass mailings.

Gunner: In this case, it would have been FAWG's responsibility.

Farhad: Do we have recommendations for closure on this issue?

David: I'll reach out to TV.

Farhad: I can reach out to OBIT.

V. InterOccupy Media calls and Google Groups (Farhad)

Farhad: InterOccupy.org has semi-regular calls for members of Media WG's around the country. I believe that they're every other week, but I'm not sure how consistently they're scheduled. The next call is always featured on http://interoccupy.org/mediacall/.

There's also a Media Google group (https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!forum/interoccmedia) that gets a few posts a week, including scheduling information for the calls.

I think that we need to have folks monitoring these things.

DSB: I can be on the Google group and be on the calls if I don't have a conflict.

Deb: I can be on next Monday's (3/5) conference call.

VI. Getting Formal Press Credentials (DSB)

DSB: When we did our budget proposal, we included the cost of press credentials. I'm seeing an uptick in events where press credentials would be useful -- e.g. stuff at the State House.

David: How much does it cost?

DSB: $80.

David: Why would we buy one? We can make our own. It depends if they know what they're looking for and are looking to exclude people. Normally they don't.

Farhad: I'd make the proposal that we try with homemade ones, and, if they don't work, then we revisit the issue.

(All approve.)

David: I'll look into it. I'll see how easy mine would be to duplicate.

Gunner: I own a laminator!

VII. Sustainable Economy Rally (Deb)

Deb: Two weeks ago I learned that Mike Norman (a member of the SE WG) was asking Occupy boston to join him in a petition drive to support a crowd funding bill. This would eliminate the requirement to file crowd funded investments with the SEC (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crowd_funding).

There are 3 bills currently under discussion. The opinion seems to be that crowd funding is a gimmick, but that -- since there's bipartisan support -- it'll probably make it through the Senate. (Editor's note: I believe they have already passed the house. The two Senate bills I found were S.1970, the "Capital Raising Online While Deterring Fraud and Unethical Non-Disclosure Act of 2011" and S.1791, the "Democratizing Access to Capital Act of 2011.") One of these bills (Editor's note: S.1791) is sponsored by Scott Brown. The other seems to be considered the lesser of two evils.

A little bit later, I was on a conference call where I heard someone say that "Occupy Boston" is supporting this bill, and that they're having a rally. Apparently they're supporting Scott Brown's bill. I didn't know anything about it, but apparently the SE WG is supporting Scott Brown's bill. I'm concerned that people will think they represent all of Occupy Boston.

I'd like to bring a proposal to GA that WG's be required to get GA approval before they make statements on behalf of Occupy Boston endorsing legislation. I'd love for a WG to take on this proposal, and I think it would be a good fit for Media since we're the ones who would have to deal with any public misrepresentations.

David: I hear good things about that working group. Do we know about their rationale for supporting the bill?

Deb: Mike Norman is deeply involved in this bill and has not been transparent with the SE WG (Editor's note: Assuming that I've Googled the correct Mike Norman, he's the Chief Market Economist at John Thomas Financial). He stands to gain from it passing. The SE WG didn't even know about the other bill.

Farhad: Regardless of whether or not they had reason to support the bill, I think this point that's been raised is that they could have supported something for the wrong reasons and we wouldn't have been able to do anything about it.

David: Does this need to go through GA?

Gunner: I think that it does. This is of concern to the entire community.

DSB: I recommend that we run a draft of said proposal by the Media list.

Deb: I can do that. I'll be going to the SE WG tomorrow, and I think that they want this as well. I informed them of the other bill.

Gunner: And I will work with you on that.

VIII. Community Gathering

Gunner: I think we should suggest as the six of us that we not do this. The other possibility is to outreach to OB TV, OB Radio, and the Occupier.

Farhad: I can post that to the list (Editor's note: somebody else posted it to the list before me).

IX. We Pay button

Gunner: Isn't this an OBIT thing?

Farhad: I can respond to Rene to that effect.

X. Upcoming Events and Coverage

Occupy Boston & Boston City Council Passes Citizen's United Resolution (ASAP) Gunner will write a blog post DSB will copy edit

Livestreaming Training (Sat Mar 3) Eli may be writing the blog post DSB will copy edit

Where is The Occupy Movement Going in MA? (Sun Mar 4) ? will write a blog post ? will copy edit (Editor's note: this never got assigned.)

Occupying to Organizing (Sat Mar 10) David has a draft blog post Gunner will assemble DSB will copy edit

Occupy the MBTA (Wed Mar 14) Josh G will write a press release Gunner will copy edit

St. Patrick's Day Peace Parade (Sun Mar 18) DSB will get details from Veterans for Peace Gunner will write a press release if necessary Josh G will copy edit

XI. M17 Action Spoke

Farhad: We need a spoke for the next M17 spokes council. I'll put that out to the list.

XII. Next Week

Facilitator: Farhad Agenda: DSB