Media Democracy Day comes to Concordia

 

What started in Vancouver four years ago will soon make its mark in Montreal, thanks to the planning and support of a few Concordia students.

International Media and Democracy Day (IMDD) is coming to the Hall Building on Oct. 18, bringing an assortment of journalists, media critics and moviemakers to bear on the subject of media democracy.

“I went to one three years ago in Vancouver and it was definitely a good event,” recalled Ezra Winton, co-director of überculture collective and principal organizer of the event. “I thought that it would be good to have one in Montreal, especially at Concordia.”

Modeled after Earth Day, IMDD is a day set aside to explore and celebrate media diversity while protesting the increased concentration of media in Canada and around the world.

“Canada has the highest concentration of newspaper ownership in the world,” said Sergeo Kirby, executive producer of CUTV and one of the event’s organizers. “We’re constantly under the influence of private ownership in the media, and there’s very little public debate. That’s one of the things we really want to engage in.”

Winton said Montreal presents a unique situation, because concentrated corporate media run alongside numerous alternative news sources. This isn’t the case for the rest of Canada, however. To make the point, Winton recalls when one of Jean Chretien’s aides called U.S. president George W. Bush “a moron.”

“I was in British Columbia. An editorialist for the Times Colonist in Victoria said that Canadians owed America an apology and that we should be grateful to America for our security and culture,” he said.
“I called friends in Vancouver, Winnipeg and Montreal, and the same editorial ran in all the major cities across Canada. That’s because [newspaper chain] CanWest has a national editorial policy.

“When you’re speaking with one voice to that many people, you’re wielding a lot of influence.”

The IMDD organizers hope to expose and challenge that influence. Discussions, workshops and panel discussions are on the agenda, featuring producers, journalists and academics.

Concordia Communications Studies professors Leslie Regan Shade, Matt Soar and Yasmin Jiwani will be involved in a panel discussion entitled Media (De)Convergence, Concentration and Culture in Canada.

Film screenings are also planned, and will feature the Canadian debut of Weapons of Mass Deception, a documentary by Danny Schecter that examines American reporting on the war in Iraq.

The event will also feature a media fair on the mezzanine, with over 25 media groups and organizations present. There will be a special focus on alternative media sources, according to Johanne Savoy, organizer of the media fair.

“It’s to show people that there’s alternative media, but sadly you do have to go out and find them yourself. They don’t get any air time.
“Mainstream media is very accessible, but alternative media is not. If you don’t have alternative media, your perspective will be limited and won’t cover as many issues.”

For more information on Montreal’s First Annual International Media Democracy Day, go to www.mediawrench.ca.