Rohan Pearce
If there was any justice in the world, 2004 should have been the year the corporate media died. Over a year after Iraq was occupied by the "coalition of the willing" under the false pretext of disarming "weapons of mass destruction" and with the third anniversary of the "children overboard" lies approaching, never has the role of the big business media with maintaining the power of the rich and their representatives, corporate-sponsored politicians, been more evident.
It's hardly a shock that most people don't trust the media. This is particularly the case for young people. A 2003 youth poll conducted by the Australian Democrats found that only 5% of young people trusted the media for information about politics, less, even, than the 6% who trusted politicians.
This issue, Â鶹´«Ã½ Weekly celebrates our 600th edition — 600 issues of not just challenging the lies of the corporate media, but of campaigning for a better world. A January 1991 broadsheet put out prior to our first issue, issued to distribute at protests against the first Gulf War, explained: "The aim of Â鶹´«Ã½ is to be the badly needed alternative to the mass media... Sponsored by a broad range of activists ... in progressive causes around Australia, Â鶹´«Ã½ will provide both a movement forum and the indispensable information that is unavailable in the big business media."
On July 10, 1991, GLW issued its 20th edition. A milestone that, while after 600 issues looks somewhat minor, was a cause for celebrating the paper's early success. That issue's editorial explained: "For those who don't read the small print on the cover carefully: this is the 20th issue of Â鶹´«Ã½ Weekly. That makes it an anniversary of sorts. And thereby hangs a tale — quite a few of them, in fact.
"When the idea for this newspaper was first floated more than a year ago, no-one could be sure whether it was a goer or a pipedream. Would it really be possible to create a paper which could become a forum for a broad spectrum of the left, ecologists, and other progressive movements — and which could survive financially? The final answer isn't in on that question, but the odds certainly look better than they did 12 months ago, or even back in February, when the first issue appeared."
Over the years the struggles around which GLW has campaigned have been many and varied. In recent times, some stand out: Solidarity with the democratic movement that toppled Indonesian dictator Suharto, the defence of the Maritime Union of Australia, support for East Timor's independence, the movement against the invasion and occupation of Iraq, the struggle for refugees' rights, the defence of jailed union militant Craig Johnston, and the formation of a new, broad socialist party in Australia, the Socialist Alliance.
We have broken a few stories in the last few years that we are particularly proud of — our relentless exposure of the lie that was Iraq's WMDs, our revelation of Palestinian asylum seeker Aladdin Sisalem's solitary detention at Manus Island (which contributed to his release) and our consistent, and unique, coverage of the growing militant current in Australian trade unions.
In recent years, as more people turn to the web to seek out information, Â鶹´«Ã½ Weekly has consolidated its place as the leading Australian political website. On the July 7 edition of ABC Radio's Australia Talks Back, a representative of Hitwise explained: "If you look at the top websites that Australians visited just last week, Michael Moore was the number one, you know, global site that they went to. The second one was the Â鶹´«Ã½ Weekly, which has a huge proportion of 18- to 24-year-olds."
From the beginning, GLW was posted on the online news lists maintained by our ISP. In our 200th issue, published August 30, 1995, we announced that "with this issue the contribution Â鶹´«Ã½ has already been able to make linking people and movements across the globe will soon take another step forward with the posting of every issue onto the World Wide Web electronic mail system".
Sure, the language used looks terribly archaic today, but for an under-resourced publication like GLW, posting the paper's entire contents online was a groundbreaking step, particularly given that the web had only really gone public in 1993.
We took that step for the same reason we now provide free access to our archive on the web: because for us, it is about telling the truth, and building movements for progressive change, not about profit.
Like the paper, the website continues to develop. Recent additions to the site have included a secure payment system for subscriptions and donations and a headline feed that allows other sites to easily syndicate our content. We are currently in the process of shifting the site to its own server, which will allow us more control to conduct a comprehensive overhaul of the site.
From GLW's inception, fundraising to allow production of the paper has been a constant concern. It hasn't all been smooth sailing — we've expanded and reduced the size of the paper, increased and, unusually, decreased our cover price.
Like the production of the physical edition of GLW, the website incurs substantial costs. We're victims of our own success, as the increasing traffic racks up hosting bills. At the same time, our web readers don't contribute to the cost in the same way as those who buy the paper on the street.
The continued success of Â鶹´«Ã½ Weekly as Australia's voice of dissent relies on you. Our independence from corporate funding and our ability to challenge the weapons of mass deception of the rich — the corporate media — relies on support from our readers, in the form of writing, distributing and making financial contributions to Â鶹´«Ã½ Weekly. Think about it — make a donation or take out a subscription — with your help, we'll keep flying for another 600.
From Â鶹´«Ã½ Weekly, September 29, 2004.
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