PGHIMC - Pittsburgh Independent Media Center

Stop the Monopolization of Free Media
by Claire Schainal Thursday, May. 29, 2003 at 9:20 PM

Stop the monopoly that the IMC Editorial Collective and a a Chose Few believe that they have on the discussion and views presented at the Indypgh site !!! Protest to free the voices of the community at large and stop the arbitrary and hateful actions by the IMC Editorial Collective to exclude and silence the voices of those that may not entirely share the views of the Chosen Few. Fight for your rights !!! Fight to keep diversity of thought in the discourse at indypgh !!!!

The Editorial Colelctive of Pittsburgh IMC has implicitly conspired with the American neo-leftist movement to rally uncritical support behind a homogenized and monolithic agenda and to silence the voice of dissent. They have done so with such art and stagecraft that would have made Bob Fossi proud. And now the IMC Editorial Collective is about to the reward themselves and a rather select group of the chosen few who share the Editorial Collective�s favored political philosophy of the IMC Editorial Collective which serves as the megaphone for its official view.

The IMC EC is poised to exercise the most dramatic changes to IMC EC publication rights policies in years. Leading the charge is the current IMC EC, which has essentially declared war on diversity of thought and freedom of speech on the IMC site at the same time that these rights are under wider assault in America. If the IMC EC plan goes through, there will be nothing standing in the way of the IMC EC drive for control of what you read at the expense of fundamental freedoms, open discourse, truth and democracy.

IMC EC is the poster child of everything that's wrong with the scatological left in America today. After the failure of the left to express any clear vision for its political agenda at the end of the Clinton Administration, IMC gobbled up hundreds of websites throughout the world and now controls a heck of a lot of website and content nationwide, dominating the left wing media audience share in all major (and minor) markets. Not only is IMC the city�s largest independent news website, it's also the world largest repository of monofocal leftist propaganda and advertising. Here in Pittsburgh, IMC provides a news alternative and open discussion forum to counter at least six stations: WDVE-FM, KISS-FM, WWSW-FM, WXDX-FM and WBGG-AM.

IMC EC�s poorly thought and even monopolistic practices have accelerated the homogenization of political discourse. The IMC EC promotes cookie-cutter style discussion and thought that has grossly limited the effectiveness and credibility of IMC, which is seemingly playing the same seven political viewpoints. The IMC EC also uses its position with PGH IMC to promote its own political agenda. After April 4, the IMC EC undertook to create a method to effectively blacklist certain viewpoints and individual IMC users. This year IMC sponsored anti-war rallies in areas around the city before and during the war on Iraq. Some of which tacitly approved of diverse tactics which resulted in property damage and violence, all to the discredit of the movement and counter to various voices of opposition at the time freely posted on PGH IMC. That isn�t surprising, since the IMC EC has ties to the radical leftist minority within the movement.

If the IMC EC continues the arbitrary imposition of its new and secret editorial rules, enterprises like PGH IMC will be given even more control over the public discourse at what should be a free and open site than it already has. We are likely to see in print the same type of thought control and oppression of dissenting opinion that we saw in the radio industry after the 1996 media deregulation. And we are likely to see even more leftist orgies and mass deception that manufacture consent to the IMC EC�s monolithic and exclusionary agenda.

Being disturbed or frustrated alone will not stop the ongoing anti-democratic anti-libertarian anti-freedom stranglehold on the news. We must take our message to the subatomic level and post our objection to this oppressive conduct on the internet.

NO MORE SECRET COOKIE WARS ON PERSON ARBITRARILY DEEMED �SPAMMERS� !

STOP THE INDY MEDIA CONFISCATION OF FREE AND OPEN DISCOURSE FOR ALL PERSONS !

STOP THE MASS DECEPTION THAT IMC DOES NOT IDENTIFY IPs!

STOP THE IMC EC MONOPOLY!

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