FEMINIST INTERNATIONAL Radio
ENDEAVOUR
FIRE
JUNE,
2008
2 June, 2008
FIRE, San José, Costa Rica
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FIRE PRODUCER: ONE OF 21 ALTERNATIVE "MEDIA HEROES" IN 2008
A
deck of trading cards each containing a biography of one of the 21 "Media
Heroes" selected by the organization Reclaim the Media has been published
this month of May in Seattle, Washington, U.S.A. as a way of highlighting
the communicators’ contributions to movement building through media.
The set of cards are to be displayed presented
at the 2008 National
Conference for Media Reform held in
Minneapolis-St. Paul
between
June 6-8, an event organized to
“offer bold visions, new ideas and concrete solutions to building a better
media system.”
About the recognition to the heroes, Reclaim the Media executive Director Jonathan Lawson stated that “the cards recognize the contributions of some of the most important media activists and thinkers in media today.” Each 'Media Heroes' card features a biography and an original artwork by Seattle artist Michael Leavitt.
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Among the 21 media
heroes is María Suárez Toro of Feminist International Radio Endeavour
(FIRE). Others include Ida B. Wells (1862–1931), African American women’s
rights and civil rights advocate, activist in the suffragist movement who
wrote and struggles against lynching in the South, documenting atrocities.
DeeDee Hallek, media activist from California in the United States who
co-founded Paper Tiger TV and also the Deep Dish Satellite Network, is a
community television network. Florence Kennedy (1916-2000), feminist lawyer
and political activist for civil rights and women’s rights. Elias Boudinot
(1802-1839), Cherokee Indian social communicator who created the first ever
tribe’s newspaper – The Cherokee Phoenix - which he also edited. For the
full list in the deck of cards go to
www.reclaim
the media.org
Suárez Toro, Puerto Rican
and Costa Rican co- founder and producer of FIRE in Costa Rica since 1991
stated that she received the news about the honor “in the name of the heroic
collective of the Latin American and Caribbean FIRE producers that have made
the first women’s internet radio station worldwide possible, especially its
co-founder and present Director, Chilean lawyer and communicator, Katerina
Anfossi.”
She added that FIRE has
hundreds of female media heroines globally - women in community radio,
alternative media and electronic networks that through their interactions,
productions and networks have made FIRE possible. These media efforts the
hands of women have transformed the spectrum of global and local news to
include feminist perspectives, struggles and contributions towards the
democratization of information, communication and its technologies.”
FIRE is made possible
through the financial support of HIVOS, the Global Fund for Women, the
Women’s Radio Fund, ASTRAEA and philanthropist Genevieve Vaughan, among
others. It is also possible because of the extra volunteer work of staff,
friends and Board, and because of the determination of the feminist and
women’s movement to have a voice in the world.
Reclaim the Media, based
in Seattle, is a non-profit organization dedicated to pursuing a more just
society by transforming media system and expanding the communications rights
of ordinary people through grassroots organizing, education, networking and
advocacy. RTM work to change media policy at the local and federal level,
teach media literacy education and supports community media.
For copies of the deck of cards containing
the 21 media heroes write to
www.reclaimthemedia.org
click on store.
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For more information about FIRE go to www.radiofeminista.net
