Subject: NLNS Pamphlet ********************************************* Introducing NEW LIBERATION NEWS SERVICE. . . (An Email User's Guide to NLNS) ********************************************* >From a review of NLNS in UTNE Reader, September/October 92: "Contrary to one of the mainstream media's favorite myths, people in their twenties are serious students, activists, artists, environmentalists, feminists, and socialists with a lot to say about social and racial inequality, U.S. imperialism, women's rights, and other important issues. Outside of the insular college paper and 'zine community, however, there are few media outlets for left-of- center people in their twenties. National magazines and newspapers aren't exactly begging for radical youth perspectives; when they do cover college activism, it is often filtered through a mainstream baby boomer lens. Even the alternative press could do a better job of rounding up more youthful opinions. Standing out as one of the few forums where articles, essays, editorials, and cartoons by politically conscious young journalists and activists can receive national attention is the New Liberation News Service. The thoughtful, freshly written pages of NLNS shatter steryotypes about young people and reveal committed activists on campuses across the United States and Canada. A grass-roots news service that collects articles from radical college and community newspapers and distributes them to more than 150 subscribing papers, NLNS is run on a shoestring budget by a tiny, twenty-something staff. In an age when right-wing think tanks dole out big bucks to keep conservative campus newspapers thriving, the information NLNS provides to struggling progressive papers and their readers is invaluable." ------------------------------------------------------------ On September 21, 1990, New Liberation News Service packet #1 was released to several dozen small student and community papers across the United States. For the first time in a decade progressive, grassroots media outlets were offered a wire service that brought them news, commentary, investigative work and graphics from outside the pale of the mainstream press. NLNS, from the outset, has been emminently affordable, extremely provocative and maverick in the best sense of the word. The response to the project, particularly during the Gulf War media clampdown, was fast and furious. Entering our third year, NLNS has over 150 subscriber publications and radio stations--with a combined audience of over a million people in the United States and Canada. The credit for this success stems from the existence of hundreds of new media projects that have sprung up since the mid-80s. Shut out of both mainstream and left establishment media, a new generation of young activists created forums for their ideas, their hopes, and their struggles--on their terms. The explosion and accesibility of desktop publishing technology put the power of the press within reach of more and more people. Some of these papers were single-issue based, focusing on anti-apartheid or Central American solidarity struggles, while others covered a wide spectrum of issues. What they all had in common was a deep-seeded belief in the right of average people to have access to a grassroots media unmuddied by corporate or governmental bias. But these early media projects were extremely difficult to maintain. Many depended on limited advertising markets to raise the money they needed to publish on a regular basis. To compete with larger, more flashy media operations meant broadening their content to include both local and national issues. The burden of assuring their readers breadth as well as depth of coverage without access to an international wire service geared to their needs (and price range) was a heavy one. And their need to communicate with other newspaers and share skills and ideas remained high. The attrition rate for small grassroots publications remains high to this day for these and many other reasons. In short, no one was out there who could act as both a SOURCE of progressive news and views, and a CONDUIT for movement building ideas and skill sharing. Good local papers need both to survive--even more than they need money. Then came NLNS. And we killed several birds with one stone. Few of us were surprised at the instant demand and glowing publicity for the project. Still, building NLNS from the ground up has been difficult work. During our first year, with almost no funding, we managed to provided only a bare-bones monthly wire service. The second year saw NLNS stretch to a bi-weekly format, experiment with 15 minute radio feeds, dive head-first into providing electronic dispatches, including two of our own conferences on Peacenet, and we even managed to scrape up enough money to pay most of the bills. For those of you unfamiliar with NLNS, our basic functioning is pretty simple. Many of our subscribers mail us their publications, indicating what they feel is their best work. To that basic setup, we add work from a growing network of correspondents and contributing graphic artists, as well as some work produced inhouse. The final packet, usually 20-30 pages' worth, is mailed out to our subscribers every other week with full reprint rights. A growing number of publications receive the text portion of our packets over electronic mail. This is an arena which holds much promise, with instantaneous transmission of news, ideas--and in the not to distant future graphics and pictures--available to anyone with a computer and a modem. NLNS will be there, at the cutting edge of technoogy, keeping true to our aim of providing as much news, as often and as cheaply as possible. As we enter our third year, we are excited about the prospects for the growth and coalesence of independent, progressive media. As the corporate-government media monopoly grows ever stronger, small, independent media stand as a last line of defense in providing a voice for the disenfranchised. Support independent media in your community: support them directly with your time or your money. And help us help them. Get NLNS. ------------------------------------------------------------ Praise for NLNS "An invaluable service - NLNS is one of the few comprehensive voices with a progressive message reaching students across the country" - Cynthia Peters, South End Press "NLNS is an invaluble resource both to the progressive press and to local organizers. NLNS increases our expectations. Having NLNS makes us take ourselves more seriously. It puts us in contact with the people around the country who are struggling for the same things that we are struggling for. And it highlights the much ignored student and youth press. The writers have hands-on experience which makes their articles important and interesting." - Jenny Brown, Gainesville Iguana "A service like NLNS is long overdue. NLNS has great potential to educate and politicize the youths who are the hope of progressive movements in this country. It deserves praise and support." - Joshua Cohen, Author of On Democracy "The narrow spectrum of opinion, analysis, and reporting constitute a significant barrier to the growth and coalescence of popular forces concerned about the state of the country and the world, and what lies ahead. NLNS is exploring promising ways to expand these horizons, to provide material and interpretation that are difficult to find, and to encourage the kind of thinking and participation that are essential if major problems are to be confronted in a serious way. It very much merits support, in my opinion." - Noam Chomsky, MIT Professor of Linguistics ___________________________________________ How to Get NLNS NLNS offers subscriptions to alternative community and student publications, mainstream newspapers, and individuals. In addition to the basic service, we can usually be of assistance to small media outlets, with anthing from research help on investigative stories to advice on how to fight off attacks from nasty student governments to late-night calls about libel and slander. Just give us a call. We never sleep! NLNS operates primarily as a news service for grassroots media. Our subscription rates are based on the needs of these papers. In order that we may continue this mission, we ask that larger media groups pay a slightly higher rate so that these members may sustain us while we provide low cost services to small alternative presses. Even so, the $10 a month represents HALF of what the original LNS charged over twenty years ago. For every basic membership, or for every 5 individual subscriptions, we can serve a financially struggling media outlet that can't afford anything. In keeping with our mission, we have never, and will never deny our service to any media outlet based on their inability to pay. Due to increasing public demand, NLNS has created an individual subscription-- which allows folks who just like to read "the best of the grassroots press" with a monthly compendium of our best stories. Individual Subscription $25/year (12 issues) Basic Membership $120/year Low Income Membership $25 - $50/year Canadian Basic Membership $200 Canadian/year *NOTE: This rate sheet applies to the Internet and Peacenet versions of NLNS ************************************************************ **********************NEW ADDRESS & PHONE!****************** ************************************************************ New Liberation News Service P.O. Box 325, Kendall Square Branch Cambridge, MA 02142 (617) 492-8316 EMAIL: nlns@igc.apc.org