About the Media Co-op

The Media Co-op is a coast-to-coast network of local Media Cooperatives dedicated to providing grassroots, democratic coverage. You can also view a list of editors.

Contact

Structure

The Media Co-op is reader-funded and member-run. It relies on the participation of hundreds of people through discussions of coverage, photography, written accounts, videos and other forms of participatory journalism. But it also seeks to fund experienced journalists to produce high-quality, in-depth reporting, drawing whenever possible on input and material generated by the membership.

The Media Co-op is formally organized as a solidarity cooperative (also known as a multi-stakeholder co-op) with three kinds of members: readers, contributors and editors. The board of directors has representatives from each membership (one each from readers and contributors, three from the editors).

The Co-op seeks to represent the common interests of the various groups. For example: the readers want high-quality grassroots coverage, and are willing to pay for it; the contributors want to cover stories free from the constraints of the corporate press and be paid for their work. The editor members are charged with organizing the cooperative and keeping things running day to day.

Philosophy

"Grassroots" means that for each topic we cover, we talk to the people directly affected by policies or activities first. Once a journalist thoroughly understands the story of those directly affected and has time and resources left over, she brings their questions to those making the decisions: politicians, corporate executives, and so on.

This approach stems from a certain kind of common sense: if we start by talking to the people who have a vested interest in (and experience with) spinning, framing or outright lying to their own advantage, then we're not likely to get the real story. The approach also takes the position that what is actually happening on the ground is more important than what influential people are saying about what's going on.

The Locals

Each Local of the Media Co-op consists of a) a web site, connected to the Media Co-op Network, b) a local group of active contributors and organizers and c) the membership of the Media Co-op residing in the vicinity.

Each Local has a degree of autonomy, but also contributes to (and benefits from) the operation of the Co-op. In consultation with the membership, Local committees decide how to use resources in their area.

Current locals

Halifax: Established February 2009
Vancouver: Established June 2009
Toronto: Coming soon

Working Groups

Working Groups are areas of the web site where Media Co-op members and participants can share information and story around a topic of mutual interest. Eventually, they will become the engines for generating coverage of a wide variety of topics, to be circulated by the Media Co-op.

The Dominion

The Dominion is a publication of the Media Co-op. Most members receive printed copies of the newspaper, and selected stories from Locals appear in the Dominion.

Special issues of the Dominion (such as the Tar Sands and State of Mine issues) are distributed through the Locals.

History

The Media Co-op was initiated by members of the Dominion's editorial collective in 2006. The project formally began in February of 2007, when the Dominion reincorporated as a cooperatives and announced its intentions to establish a Media Co-op with a cross-Canada tour.

The Media Co-op idea came from a recognition of the limitations of the Dominion's rigorous and labour-intensive editorial process, and the need for a more broadly participatory media organization.