All posts by Midnightschildren

What Will They Do About The Internet?

 

Media Alliance joined 38 organizations to call for political debate moderators to ask candidates how they plan to improve high-speed Internet access.

The over three dozen signers include a diverse group of national civil rights groups, technology policy advocates, media advocates, and community organizing groups concerned with the fact that approximately 34 million Americans still lack access to high-speed Internet, and the consequences of this divide. Continue reading What Will They Do About The Internet?

Don’t Undermine Encryption: Apple vs. NSA

 

Crypto Wars 2 pit encryption advocates against the FBI which wants code written to break password protections in smartphones. Only weeks after the broad open letter was prepared: the issue broke when the FBI got a court order to compel Apple Computer to break its own smartphone encryption. Apple is fighting the order. Continue reading Don’t Undermine Encryption: Apple vs. NSA

Need a Press List? Introducing Media Alliance’s Press Service

For literally decades, Media Alliance has been publishing a community-oriented list of journalists to aid advocates, local groups and researchers in getting alternative information and perspectives out to the media. Originally under the name People Behind The News and then the Northern California Press List. Always at a fraction of the price of the professional PR companies.

But in 2019, it’s becoming clear that journalists are more and more reluctant to throw the communications door wide open. Dangerous trolls, literal shootings at newspaper offices, doxxings and verbal abuse; it has all taken a toll.  So when we say to the press that we want to make your personal contact info available so the non-professionals can reach you more easily, a lot of journalists say no thanks.

We get it. The safety of journalists is important to us. But so is the ability of underrepresented voices, untold stories, and alternative points of view to get in front of the mainstream media.

So we’re taking a new approach for 2019. A community-based press release service.

For what we hope is a modest price (and as usual, if you call or email and plead poverty, we’re probably a soft touch for a noble cause), we’ll take your information and polished or unpolished press release and distribute it for you and hopefully start getting you the media coverage you deserve.

Here is how it works:

A) Send us an image and your draft press release, including a media contact for follow-up inquiries, and all the who, what, where, when and why information, and we’ll give it a once-over and send it out to 800 Northern California journalists.

$150

B) Send us an image and some basic information and we’ll craft your press release including finding the news hook and the telling quote,  format it, and send it  out to 800 Northern California journalists.

$275

Book a series package of 3 releases whenever you need them and get 20% off on each one. Good for two years from the date of purchase.  

Press Services

 

 

New: Quickie Activism Websites

 

The pace of protest in Trump’s America is a bad case of whiplash. Activism-fatigue is all too real. Many of us don’t want to keep up with the latest happenings because we can’t get through a news feed without finding something we need to to try to stop. 

When you have too, but you just can’t; we’re introducing a service just for these special times to produce hyper-speed activism websites in just a few days with the basic components: sign up forms, petitions, targeted action alerts, SSL certificates, and social media tie-ins.  

This frees up activists and organizers to go out and talk to people instead of huddling up in front of computers, while making a campaign digitally viable in real time. 

Websites with the basic components and up to 8 pages of background material including sign-up forms, event calender, one petition and/or targeted action alert, in https protocol, and linked to up to 5 social media accounts can be live as quickly as within 72 hours of request. 

$1,500 for site generation + domain/server/SSL fees at cost. 

Because Media Alliance is a mission-based organization, this service is only available for campaigns and efforts that are congruent with our organizational goals and values.