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CNN Today

Activism On-Line

Aired April 17, 2000 - 1:34 p.m. ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Police in the District of Columbia arrested 60 more protesters today, as they tried to block access to the World Bank and International Monetary Fund meetings in Washington. The demonstrators argue the lending practices of both institutions contribute to world poverty. Nearly 800 protesters have been arrested since the start of those meetings this past weekend. Police have used tear gas and pepper spray and smoke bombs to help control those crowds.

The anti-global protesters arrived in Washington complete with their own media organization. And they admit it is not producing objective journalism. The protesters are covering themselves for themselves. And they're putting it all onto the global computer connection: the Internet.

More on that now from CNN's Marsha Walton in Washington.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARSHA WALTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Those who don't like the way mainstream media cover civil disobedience are now simply covering it themselves.

CRAIG HYMSON, AUDIO PRODUCER: All you really need is a computer, a tape recorder and an Internet connection, and you can make radio.

WALTON: Add digital cameras and make TV.

PROF. DEE DEE HALLECK, UNIV. OF CALIF. SAN DIEGO: We're taking video that people have made out on the street and then digitizing it, and putting it up on the Web.

WALTON: After the attention World Trade Organization protesters got in Seattle, reporter/activists stepped up plans to put their spin on the World Bank and IMF activity in Washington. About 500 people are working out of an art gallery-turned newsroom.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Indymedia.org, and that's the backbone of our distributions, that is where all our content is getting posted to.

UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS: This is what democracy sounds like.

UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS: This is what democracy sounds like.

ABHISEK LAL, AUDIO PRODUCER: We just checked to see who was listening and we had people from -- what was that, England, France...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: New Zealand.

LAL: ... all over the world. So it's connecting our ideas with people all over the world.

WALTON: Technology hasn't just changed reporting on the confrontations, but planning for them, as well. For generations, grassroots groups used posters, pamphlets and one-on-one contact to spread their message.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My name's Arnie.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm Louis.

WALTON: But the Internet has emerged as a very efficient meeting place.

MELINDA ST. LOUIS, CAMPAIGN FOR LABOR RIGHTS: From the very beginning, the most important thing for us to do was to get a functioning Web site up that was available for activists all over the country.

WALTON: Antisweatshop activist Melinda St. Louis and dozens of others used Web sites for logistics and to provide hints on how to deal with tear gas and pepper spray, and how to hang yourself from a billboard.

DAVID COURTENAY-QUIRK, INTL. SOCIALIST ORGANIZATION: Most people probably found out all the logistics on the Web.

WALTON: The Internet also streamlined transportation to the Washington protests.

COURTENAY-QUIRK: People have been crawling out of the woodwork. People who found my name on the Web, and just called me up, or e- mailed me.

WALTON: Alternative journalists say they're planning to open independent media centers at the Republican and Democratic conventions for a different view of those events.

Marsha Walton, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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