Believe it or not, citizen journalism didn’t just start recently with blogs and Facebook. The Independent Media Center (IMC) was established in 1999 to provide grassroots coverage to the Seattle WTO protests. IMC has since become an international “network of collectively run media outlets for the creation of radical, accurate, and passionate tellings of the truth.” Nowadays, the network is also using new media tools to report the unreported. Today’s Financial Fool’s Day protests in London once again spotlights how IMC still reigns in digital activism.
With world leaders in London for the special Group of Twenty (G20) meeting to discuss the global economic downturn, protesters in Trafalgar Square provided news about the protests throught text messages and Twitter. Some tweets looked like this from ur32daurt: “Police are section 41ing pple cos of riots elsewhere.helicopters overhead.traffic been blocked 4 an hour” and from panda_power: “Riot police have just enetered the camp with raised batons. Ppl chanting ‘this is not a riot”, campers still peaceful.” Some reporters are also posting pictures from the day’s events.
Later in the evening, there were reports from the police published in the mainstream media that a protester died after collasping; however, Indymedia London said it can not confirm this information. Protesters with any information are asked to contact Indymedia London dispatch and the legal team at Bindmans Solicitors on 02078334433 to clarify the circumstances of this death.
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