Indy Media Centres launched in Melbourne, Sydney
BY SEAN HEALY
SYDNEY — Independent Media Centres are now up and running in Melbourne and Sydney, where they'll provide a protesters' eye view of protest actions at the World Economic Forum's September 11 meeting in Melbourne and during the Sydney Olympic Games.
The two are the latest of such centres being set up across the world. "Indy media centres" operated during the Seattle protests against the World Trade Organisation, the demonstrations at the Washington, D.C., annual meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund in April and the actions outside the Republican Party convention in Philadelphia. There are now more than 20 IMCs, mainly in the United States.
A designer of the Melbourne IMC's web site describes the site's aim as being to "build an alternative and independent culture of media where the audience is the publisher — making news two way and interactive". Anyone with web access and the basic software can submit articles to the site, as text, audio or video.
While Melbourne's IMC is primarily a web site, the Sydney IMC is also planning to establish a physical base, from where activist/journalists fresh from the Olympics protest can tell the world of what really happened. While not finalised, the centre is likely to be set up in a warehouse in Petersham.
The web sites can be found at <http://www.melbourne.indymedia.org> and at <http://www.sydney.indymedia.org>.