STUDENT ORGANIZING

Recognizing the absence of an organized student presence within the growing movements for media reform, education and justice, Media Tank began working in the Fall of 2003 to establish a student group for media reform at the University of Pennsylvania. The resulting group, Students for Media Education and Reform (SMEAR), provides one model for organizing around media issues on college campuses.

Patrick Morales-Doyle, a Media Tank work-study student from the University of Pennyslvania began working with Media Tank board member and Penn alum Earl Dax to generate interest in a student group dedicated to media reform in the Fall of 2003. Initially called "Students for Media Justice," the nascent group had some initial success working with students of color on campus who were organizing around negative depictions of an African-American student in the "Daily Pennsylvanian," the campus newspaper.

In the Falll of 2004 Bill Herman, a graduate student at the Annenberg School for Communication at Penn, joined the organizing effort after working as a work-study student for Media Tank over the summer. The past semester has seen a substantial increase membership and increased participation by these members. The group held a screening and discussion of the movie "OUTFoxed" and sponsored a presentation by Annenberg Ph.D candidate Dannagal Goldthwaite Young on the "The Daily Show." She used clips from the show to illustrate host Jon Stewart's critique of the media and of television news in particular.

Bi-weekly meetings were held, and the group began discussing larger organizational issues pertaining to Mission, vision, activities and strategy. A manifesto for the group is currenlty being drafted as a way to stimulate student organizing for media reform on other campuses. A workshop proposal was submitted to Free Press to present a workshop on student organizing at the second annual Media Reform Conference in St. Louis in May.

Spring Semester will focus on recruitment and leadership develop; group mission and vision; and developing a campaign that will resonate with Penn students and get them involved with the group.

For more information on Media Tank's student organizing activities, please contact:

Earl Dax
earl@mediatank.org
267.968.3247