December 2006 Archives

Watching Amy Goodman on TV on December 8th was my defining moment of this 2006 Christmas season. "Democracy Now" carried a live interview with two members of the "Christian Peacemaking Team" who had just concluded a press conference in London. These are the hostages who were kidnapped on November 26, 2005 and held for 118 days before being freed by British and American forces on March 23, 2006. Tom Fox, an American citizen and full-time member of the CPT team working in Baghdad at the time, was kidnapped with them and murdered on March 9, 2006.

What moved me deeply was the unmistakeable witness to justice and love seamlessly within a major news broadcast. Goodman's interview was measured and nuanced, as always, such that due deference was given to "the message of constructive forgivenes" as " highly significant in demonstrating how to move beyond violence and revenge.”

I did not see any of this carried on any of the other broadcast networks nor in the mainstreamed news agencies. Nevertheless, seeing an indepth live interview following a press conference whose sole purpose was a call for forgiveness........well that made my day and my Christmas season.

Merry Christmas.

Community Happens: prison radio show

I listen to this show from time to time. It's one of those vibrant media spaces-- "community happens" kind of phenomenon. "The Prison Show" runs from 9 to 12 midnight. It connects family members outside the prison walls with family members inside the prison walls. Children call in to the radio station and sing birthday wishes and christmas carols to their dad, mom, brother, etc. inside prison. Letters are read. KPFT and other community radio stations across the country are a stark contrast to the commercialized, sanitized and vapid radio that is the dominant media type of the USA. Ugh.

Let's hold up these types of real community media as wonderful contrast to the dominant conglomerate types. To make more of this happen, a growing number of us are joining forces, little by little, to make a difference. If you are intersted, join me and friends at the "Media Reform Conference" in Memphis Jan 12-14th.

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This page is an archive of entries from December 2006 listed from newest to oldest.

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