Local News Coverage of the Immigration Reform Campaign
On Monday, Reform Immigration For America (RIFA) kicked off their public campaign in Michigan to work towards comprehensive immigration reform. The West Michigan group working with RIFA held a press conference at the UFCW headquarters in Grand Rapids.
![immigration[1]](https://griid.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/immigration1.jpg "immigration[1]")
The only news media to show up was the Grand Rapids Press and WWMT channel 3 in Kalamazoo. I spoke with the channel 3 reporter who said that they would be sharing video footage of the press conference with the other local TV stations, since they now have an agreement to share video footage in order to cut costs. Of the four local TV stations, only WWMT has any coverage of the press conference posted online and their story was quite brief.
In contrast, the Grand Rapids Press story was quite good in that they cited several of the speakers from the press conference, provided a list of the demands that were being presented and even mentioned an action that people could take in order to get involved. What was most important about the Press coverage was the fact that they acknowledged that the local coalition is a broad based coalition representing people from organized labor, the faith community, and civil rights groups.
We filmed the entire press conference for those who would like to hear all the speakers from that day.
Independent Media Party with GRIID
Join us for refreshments, information on recent projects, GRIID classes, Media Bites, and opportunities for you get involved with media education and producing more independent media. We want to expand our work and we need you help. Now is the time to have more independent media that takes on the critical issues of our day. We will also have on hand some new GRIID Media Bites T-Shirts!
Monday, September 21
5 – 7pm
314 Straight Ave SW Door M (Tanglefoot Building)
Media Bites – Walmart
In this week’s Media Bites we look at a recent Back-to-School commercial from the retail giant Walmart. The ad tries to sell us on the idea that if you buy stuff for the dorm room at their store, your kids will be successful in college. This ad is similar to the one from JC Penny we looked at a few weeks back, in that the idea of back to school in more about shopping than education.
Yesterday, members of the Stop Targeting Our Kids (STOK) group took action to draw attention to the back-to-school spending pressures that parents and their children face every year.
According to STOK:
- Companies spend about $17 billion annually marketing to children, a staggering increase from the $100 million spent in 1983.
- There is an increasing amount of commercialism infiltrating our educational system, particularly at the K-12 grade levels.
- Children have become primary targets of advertisers who want to reach them every minute of every day, in school and out.
- Corporations have gained unprecedented access to our schools and children by offering “free” resources in exchange for the opportunity to promote their products.
It is because of this level of advertising that targets children STOK went to the Target and Wal-Mart stores in Grand Rapids to hand out flyers to customers and hold signs for motorists alone Alpine Ave.
STOK members decided to dress like characters from the Harry Potter books/movies to draw attention to their action. Some of the signs they held said, “School is for learning, not chain store earning,” “break the spell of back-to-school spending,” and “Learning is the real Magic.”
For more information on how children are targeted by advertisers go to www.commercialfreechildhood.org. To contact STOK send an e-mail to stokaction@gmail.com.
Immigration Reform Interviews – An Immigrant Rights Lawyer, Health Care Provider and Media Educator share their views
These interviews are part of a series that we will be posting with people from West Michigan who are working to push for a new immigration policy from the federal government. The West Michigan Coalition for Comprehensive Immigration Reform is working with the national group Reform Immigration For America (RIFA) to hold the new administration to its promise to reform immigration policy. You can join the local group by becoming a member on Facebook or contact Diane at dianelawkessler@gmail.com.
The first interview is with Liz Balck, who is a local immigrant rights lawyer. Next is Juan Daniel Castro, a local health care provider. Last is Jeff Smith director of Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy.
Senator Levin responds to Military Coup in Honduras
It has been some two months since a military coup in Honduras ousted the democratically elected government of Manuel Zelaya. The global diplomatic community unanimously denounced the coup and called for the restoration of democracy in that Central American country.
Initially the Obama administration spoke out against the coup but since mid-July they have stopped calling for the reinstatement of Zelaya. In fact, as Eva Gollinger reports, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is now referring to the coup leaders as the “interim government.” In addition, Gollinger writes, “The State Department has refused to certify legally the events in Honduras as a “coup”, it has not suspended nor frozen financial support or trade with the country, nor has it taken steps to pressure effectively the de facto regime.”
The lack of any serious action to defend democracy in the hemisphere and the tacit acceptance of the coup leaders suggests that the US is not interested in the rule of law in international affairs.
When asked recently about what his position on this matter is, Michigan Senator Carl Levin said,
“In July, Secretary Clinton announced that President Manuel Zelaya and Honduran National Congress President, Roberto Micheletti, agreed to engage in negotiations mediated by Costa Rican President Oscar Arias. These negotiations are ongoing and have done little to resolve this matter so far. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton continues to lead the Obama administration’s effort to urge both sides to find a negotiated diplomatic resolution to the crisis.”
Seems that Levin is in agreement with the administration’s inaction and acceptance of the coup government.
The positions of the Democratic administration and Democratic Senator Levin raise questions about the US motives on the Honduran Coup. Some writers have suggested that since Zelaya is a member of the regional alliance known as the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA), the US administration wants to marginalize him. Some US media reports on the Honduran coup have suggested that Zelaya was ousted because he wanted to change the constitution to be President for life, which isn’t what Zelaya was advocating. In fact, as independent journalist Ben Dangl has reported,
“Nations across Latin America, including Venezuela, Bolivia and Ecuador, have recently re-written their constitutions. In many aspects the changes to these documents enshrined new rights for marginalized people and protected the nations’ economies from the destabilizing effects of free trade and corporate looting.”
The proposal to rewrite the constitution in Honduras had significant support, especially from popular sectors.
What the US media has not reported on is that many of the coup instigators in Honduras are graduates of the infamous US Army School of the Americas. There has also not been much reporting of the popular resistance to the coup, nor the increasing repression that targets those who oppose the military coup.
US Coverage of the popular opposition to the coup in Honduras pales in comparison to that of the popular electoral opposition in Iran a few months ago. This comparison, which reflects a double standard, should be cause enough for people in the US to question the US government position on Honduras.
This interview is part of a series that we will be posting with people from West Michigan who are working to push for a new immigration policy from the federal government. The West Michigan Coalition for Comprehensive Immigration Reform is working with the national group Reform Immigration For America (RIFA) to hold the new administration to its promise to reform immigration policy. You can join the local group by becoming a member on Facebook or contact Diane at dianelawkessler@gmail.com.
This interview is part of a series that we will be posting with people from West Michigan who are working to push for a new immigration policy from the federal government. The West Michigan Coalition for Comprehensive Immigration Reform is working with the national group Reform Immigration For America (RIFA) to hold the new administration to its promise to reform immigration policy. You can join the local group by becoming a member on Facebook or contact Diane at dianelawkessler@gmail.com.
Immigration Reform Interviews – A Grand Rapids Public School teacher shares his views
This interview is part of a series that we will be posting with people from West Michigan who are working to push for a new immigration policy from the federal government. The West Michigan Coalition for Comprehensive Immigration Reform is working with the national group Reform Immigration For America (RIFA) to hold the new administration to its promise to reform immigration policy. You can join the local group by becoming a member on Facebook or contact Diane at dianelawkessler@gmail.com.
Not enough troops, the death of a soldier and the ongoing GR Press coverage of Afghanistan
On Monday (8/24), the Grand Rapids Press published a short version of a New York Times article that states US military commanders are now saying that there are insufficient US troops operating in Afghanistan.
The article quotes Admiral Mullen who was on CNN this past weekend and referred to the situation in Afghanistan. “I think it is serious and it is deteriorating. The Taliban insurgency has gotten better, more sophisticated, in their tactics.”
Nowhere in the story are there other perspectives or any attempt by the Times reporter to verify the claims made by US military leaders. The Press version of the story does mention that recently polling shows more Americans are becoming dissatisfied with the US military occupation of Afghanistan, but the story omits any credible critique of the US campaign either from US sources or Afghani sources.
You will recall that the Obama administration has sent an additional 17,000 US soldiers to Afghanistan since he took office in January, but his administration has not responded to the recent comments from the military on the inadequate levels of US troops. These additional troops do not include the private military contractors that are operating in Afghanistan. According to a recent Wall Street Journal article, there are more private military contractors in Afghanistan than there are US troops, roughly 74,000 to 57,000.
Private Military Contractors
The Press did publish a Los Angeles Times article on Sunday (8/23) that dealt with private military contractors in Afghanistan. The article does provide some critique as it relates to accountability and inadequate training of those private military forces, but does not question their role in Afghanistan. The LA Times piece also does not take into account the private security forces that are being contracted by the Department of State, a fact that independent reporter Jeremy Scahill points out in an article he posted today.
A Michigan Soldier is Killed in Afghanistan
Lastly, it is worth pointing out that a Middleville man who was serving in the US military in Afghanistan was killed recently. The Grand Rapids Press ran three stories in the past week, on August 18, 20th and 21st. The August 21nd article is the longest and included a full page of just pictures of the funeral service in West Michigan. The death of this local soldier is the only reporting that the GR Press has done on the US military occupation of Afghanistan since GRIID began this most recent monitoring project in late May, which suggests that only when local soldiers die is the issue newsworthy.
It should also be pointed out that the Press ran an editorial on August 21st in which they focused on the fact that the Pentagon has now changed its policy on the Press taking pictures of flag draped coffins of US soldiers killed in action. However, the Press editor also used the piece as an opportunity to promote a pro-US military position by saying, “While photos of flag-draped coffins don’t show us what war is, or why our soldiers are fighting, they honor the ultimate sacrifice military men and women make for this country.”
It seems quite appropriate for the Press to report on this funeral, but we question whether or not they should be making statements that do not question whether or not US wars and the soldiers that fight in them are making sacrifices for this country.
Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy 