A Pirate focused "news agency"

Last night in the Strategy meeting we identified that there is a shortage of media which is Sympathetic to Pirate ideals. There is currently no Pirate themed news agency in Australia

There is an identified need for media attention, and most major media outlets are already focused on political stories which fit their own agenda, leaving little room for them to take any notice of us.

We release Facebook, Twitter and Media Releases, which promptly get ignored, which compared to Liberal/National, Labor & The Greens, anything they say is automatically news. Some outlets even treat their word as gospel.

Just the other day, The West Australian did a big piece on UBI, which we probably have the most to say about it than anyone else in Australia, but nobody paid us any attention.

So what are some ways to become engaged in the media landscape? There are various structures I have thought of, or maybe a combination of the following:

  • Find existing publications/editors who are sympathetic to our causes and ask for more attention
  • Restructure Pirate Party Australia itself to work like a Media Organisation as the primary function.
    • Alternatively, have a The Pirate Bureau (or similar subordinate of PPAU) be the funnel for all public facing activities of The Pirate Party.
  • Have a “Pirate Media” section of PPAU act semi-autonomously as a News Agency
    • News Agency in this context means a portal where daily visitors would want to visit to get informed opinion, report of current events, and hear advocacy of a certain agenda. It is also a primary source of newsworthy items, of which other news agencies may use us as a source.
    • Semi-autonomously could mean acting like similar to how a State Branch would, like a “Virtual Branch” where it’s location area is anywhere which doesn’t have a physical presence.
    • Note: “Pirate Media” is a placeholder name, but this idea is not ready for naming yet. Please, no suggestions on name.
  • A bunch of Pirates/Pirate-thinking people could get together and form their News Agency completely independant of Pirate Party Australia but still focused on similar issues that we are.
    • Some advantages:
      • Completely impartial, free of influence of PPAU except for policy/positions they actually agree with
      • Freedom to criticise PPAU
      • Can play the nonpartisan card (just mark sure not to use “Pirate” in the naming to avoid confusion)
      • Easier to engage with people of other political persuasions or where non-partisan is important
      • Frees up resources of the National Council

If any fellow university students are reading this I have an idea on how we can help. A lot of unis have student newspapers, magazines, etc. which we can submit articles to. A lot of young people would become sympathetic to our cause if they only knew we existed. I only have anecdotal evidence, but the vibe I got from students during my university’s student union election was that the parties backed by labour and the greens don’t encompass every progressive student vote. We may be able to fill that void if we put in a little effort.

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I’d love to get some students, particularly Journalism students into submitting content! I know that Journalism is popular to study but it’s hard to break into the market so there should be quite a few eager to make their mark or at least put their skill to use. Just a matter of how to structure it then we should reach out

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I might make a thread/roll call for fellow students who would be interested in pushing our agenda. Hope you don’t mind me hijacking the idea lol

For sure! Ideas are for sharing. Just let them know that we are not sure how we want to do this particular idea yet but even still there are a heap of ways to contribute with our regular Press Releases and getting the message out there.

edit: Just saw your other topic

In politics you don’t get to complain about what the media / MSM covers and expect to be taken seriously, it’s their jobs to determine what is news worthy not ours, we are biased.

If we’re not getting the traction we want in the media (we’re not) on our issues then I think we solve that by better communicating our message and motivating members.

We shouldn’t go down the path of trying to compete in any way with media/news agencies when doing that imo, there’s plenty of room for improvement in our socmed, press releases, policy/platform videos & podcasts etc. But I draw a very serious distinction between that work vs. the work of other traditional press / news agencies / media businesses.

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Delimiter by Renai Lemay while it ran aligned nearly perfectly with our ideals on every front and even provided us with sorely needed coverage during the 2012 election campaign. Unfortunately it shut down late last year when Renai decided to go back to working in tech however the articles are archived at delimiter.com.au

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Damn that’s why I haven’t heard from delimiter for a while. They were great, always on point.

Perfect example of how we need media outlets sympathetic to our cause.

All the other media outlets cater to [x] party line, but ours, the most sensible of the lot, doesn’t have.

Maybe we can play a hand at reviving Delimiter!

I strongly considered writing for Delimiter for a while, but decided against it as I didn’t have time. There is also @Ben 's Adversarial Press, and some members have done personal podcasts in the past.

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I reckon that if a few members could pull together to show their capabilities, it might be possible

That’s a publishing imprint, not an indie news project. The website is basically just my blog at the moment, though admittedly it does sometimes veer in the indie news direction when I poke at certain things (like the DSD a few years ago).