dissent! Network Of Resistance

This site was used for the mobilisation against the G8 2007. It is now closed and archived.

UNSPIN THE G8 is a temporary toolkit for the analysis of media reports concerning the G8 Summit in Heiligendamm, Germany (6-8 June 2007).

UNSPIN THE G8 focuses on the clashing discourses and media representations of the players: world leaders, issue celebrities, activists, social movements, security forces, industry leaders and lobby groups. What are all these actors telling us? And how do mass media cover the G8 Summit and the G8 protests?

Everyone can join! It’s simple: upload a piece of video, or audio, a newspaper clipping or a press statement and make your own analysis.

Go to www.unspintheg8.org to add an analysis or to view and comment on the items that are already on the site.

An Open Letter to the Press Rostock, G8 2007:
There is Something Terribly Wrong Here

Here in Germany, as major protests begin against the G8, the world press is not looking beyond the story of the battle – a partial story at best – and asking how or why it is happening.

Summit after summit, we have seen the same pattern in the media. The images of black clad protestors hurling rocks at police, the stories of senseless hooligans—those whom the government says should be punished and locked away.

These stories and images of street fighting do nothing but spread fear, criminalize protests, divide social movements, and distract the public from the story of the G8 and their unaccountable polices that are spreading militarism, poverty, violence, environmental destruction and climate change.

It is easy to condemn those who throw a rock or burn a car, but most of what we are seeing in Rostock is police blatantly provoking violence, using that same violence to justify ever more heavy-handed repression. Each day we are experiencing constant harassment, searches and humiliation imposed on us in the streets and on bikes, trains and borders, with no evidence of crime.

According to an official statement 13,000 police were present in Rostock on Saturday – all were well-armed and wearing lots of protective gear. There were small bands of police running into crowds, pushing, shoving and encircling protestors in a legally permitted rally. We saw nonviolent protestors who were trying to de-escalate the situation bludgeoned with batons and pepper sprayed. We saw huge water cannons infused with toxic chemicals spraying indiscriminately. Why is the press not reporting these acts of violence by the police? If violence makes such good headlines, why does the violence of poverty created by G8 policy go un-condemned?

Perhaps we might begin to understand if we look deeper. We may see that such violent confrontations have become a symptom of social and economic systems that values property over life, prisons over education, sprawl over sustainability, borders over migration, war over peace. We might see that it is in the interest of the police and the G8 to have such street fights, to justify the 90 million euros spent on security (in Germany alone). We might understand that repression and the violence of police is designed to thwart democracy and silence dissent.

But we who oppose the G8 will not be silent and we not be stopped. We understand that things are terribly wrong and that without such protests our voices will not be heard at all.

For ongoing independent coverage of events near Rostock: de.indymedia.org

Contact:

* Lisa Fithian, Austin,TX / +49 17629799874 / fithianl(at)igc.org /
* Logan Price, Seattle, Wa / +49 16092437902/ logan(at)riseup.net
* Nick Simmons, Vashon,WA / technocrat.nick(at)gmail.com
* Causten Wollerman, Denver, CO / 303.748 0922 / causten.wollerman(at)gmail.com
* Eric Freeman,Minneapolis, MN / erriiik(at)riseup.net (speaks German)
* Ian Markson, San Francisco, CA / IanEMarkson(at)yahoo.com,
* Val Alzarga, Denver, CO / 31610647398
* Michal Asterweil, Chapel Hill, NC / 0049015774630929
* David Zlutnick, CA, davidzlutnick(at)gmail.com
* Brandon Letsinger, Seattle, WA, cascadianow(at)gmail.com
* Luke Rodeheffer, Rodchester, MN, unspunmedia(at)gawab.com (speaks German)

From now on, you can find verified, up-to-date news also via the new Timeline webpage:
English
German

Help us with the Dispatch! Call us and tell us what is happening in the streets, in the camps, near the fence and in the fields. We’re
collecting information, verifying and publishing them. And please don’t be put off when dispatchers are sometimes insistent in their questions; this because we want to be really sure that understand, accurately, what’s happening.

Help us be fast and correct: call us!

The Dispatch phone numbers are:
* +49-(0)162-356 89 57 (mobile)
* +49-(0)381-77 88 006 (English, landline)
* +49-(0)381-77 88 007 (German, landline)

If the numbers don’t work, watch out the Indymedia Germany website for new announcements.

These numbers are only to be used for incoming information; for you to call and tell us your story. Please don’t call to find out what happened!

To find out about G8 protests:

* watch the Timeline webpage;
* get timeline information with your mobile phone as a wap site:
http://de.indymedia.org/wap/en and http://de.indymedia.org/wap/de;
* listen to the Radio Jetsam and the Radioforum audio streams (url’s soon on Indymedia Germany);
* watch G8 TV at http://g8-tv.org/, especially the daily news bulletin around 9pm;
* look out for indymedia print editions;
* read dispatched news via chat at irc.indymedia.org #g8-info.

Below info on how to give a good interview to the mainstream press. We will also be holding media trainings at the camps. Look out for info.

Media Training - How to give good interviews

The interview is the method by which the journalist tries to get what they want and also the means by which you must put your message across.

What we’re up against:

• Triviality: every media outlet shares the same principal aim: to expand it’s share of the market, it tries to do this by grabbing hold of people’s
  attention; this is why they concentrate more on events rather than issues
• Bias: Media is about pandering to the aims of the proprietors – there is no point talking to the boulevard press for example – but there are news outlets that we can use to our advantage. It is helpful to remember that newspapers are allowed to and are expected to be partisan, but that publicly funded broadcast outlets have a legal obligation to be “balanced and fair” – this gives us a little bit more scope to play with
• Play the game – give the interviewer what they want and get your message across
• Don’t hate your opponent, even if it’s sometimes hard!

To achieve this it’s important to have a clear understanding of what the story is:

• Remember that the reporter is usually as keen for you to do well in the interview as you are
• Be informed – this is an information war and the best warriors are the ones with the best information
• Think about who your target audience is
• It’s the answers that count, not the questions. You must know beforehand already what you want to say and how you want to say it
• What will be the general line of questioning? Don’t ask for a list of questions, you won’t be given one anyway!
• What is your general message?
• Prepare by thinking out a few phrases that contain your message in a punchy attention grabbing language. Don’t worry about simplifying what you have to say. Simpler messages are better remembered by the audience or the reader
• Make a note of no more than five questions that you think are mostly likely tocome up and plan your answers to them. Talk them through with a friend. See if they understand your key points, your language and your examples (without further explanation)
• Deliver your message concisely and close to the start of the interview
• Think of your hardest hitting line and use versions of it at the top of a couple of your answers
• The brevity of the interview may surprise you. Make sure you make your main point in your first answer
• Try to keep each phrase to twenty seconds or less. In a recorded interview that’s being edited for a news package a sound bite can be anything between 8 to 25 seconds
• Speak clearly and concisely, don’t ramble. Avoid jargon. Bring sentences to a clear swift end, without too many sub-clauses
• Think of a brief phrase for your closing remark – one which summarises your position on the subject in a memorable way

Your appearance and body language are important:

• Act as though the camera and microphone are live from the moment they are framed on you.
• If you’re angered or confused by the question, don’t let it show in your facial expression. Appear calm and considered
• Don’t put your hands in your pockets or play with jewellery/your hands
• Be aware of your body language and what it’s saying. Folded arms will give the impression that you’re closed and wary
• Remember your posture – relax your face
• During the interview look directly at the interviewer – try to ignore the camera
• Your expression should fit what you’re saying. Relax your face but don’t smile constantly if the message is a serious one, but smiling with your eyes engages the viewer in what you’re saying and projects warmth
• Don’t use any written notes
• Project and overemphasise your voice

The stitch up situation:

• If you haven’t got an answer, be honest and say so. Don’t be dragged into talking about something you don’t know about. But always avoid the phrase ‘no comment’ because it’s invariably interpreted as your having something to hide
• Use phrases to reassert yourself in the interview like, “ I don’t have the correct information to answer that one fairly, but what I can tell you is….”;
  or, in a more political context, be more assertive: “What this is really about is…”
• Turn hostile questions to good account: deal with the interviewer’s question quickly, then turn to what you want to say. A good way of handling tricky questions is to agree with part of the question, then show it’s not the full story, or you can undermine the factual content of the question, in other words, don’t let the interviewer push you into a corner; always bring your answer back to your point
• Never agree to speak to a journalist “off the record” – it doesn’t exist!
• Always assume that microphones are live and that a journalist has a notebook when you are talking to them – be especially aware of telephone conversations

Remember that you have the power! You get to decide what you say and you get to determine how the interview goes!

Contacts:
Campinski press group:
Lotta Kemper • Carl Kemper
+49 (0)179 / 376 48 12
+49 (0)174 / 896 58 24
Web: press.dissentnetwork.org
g8-presse(at)nadir.org

Gipfelsoli Infogroup:
www.gipfelsoli.org

Media G8way International Press group:
+49 16092437902 (Alex Smith)
+49 1577 – 4630348 (Jo Smith)
g8-press-int(at)nadir.org
dissentnetzwerk.org

G8-TV is a platform of video activists for the coverage of the Action Days against the G8-summit in Heiligendamm.

Details here!