Note: Click on the "video" button to see "Bleeding in Baltimore," a short videotape produced by Megaphone Project describing predatory lending practices in Baltimore. "Bleeding in Baltimore" was presented to Maryland's Governor Glendening by ACORN activists in early April.

Activists for social and economic justice often have an uneasy relationship with the news media. Video and television in particular are persuasive media for getting a point across, and activists sometimes feel forced to look to the corporate media to gain exposure for their cause. Yet, even those skilled at working the media to their own advantage find it to be a risky proposition at best. Activists have almost no control over how they'll be portrayed. There is always a possibility that it won't be in the newspaper or broadcast channel's business interests to give a particular cause any time at all, particularly since media outlets are often wrapped up with the corporations or governments grassroots activists struggle against.

Megaphone Project was founded to achieve the attention-getting effects of visual media while avoiding the pitfalls of corporate media. Project founder Paul Santomenna feels strongly that "in a media climate largely controlled by a handful of national corporations with economic interest in maintaining the status quo, this token access to media is only granted when it offers the titillation required to increase audience share." In a process Santomenna calls "short-circuiting the media outlets," Megaphone will provide activists with a free resource to deliver their media message directly to those who need to hear it, whether it be the city council, the board of a local university, or any other decision-making body.

According to the mission statement of Megaphone Project, "a producer who collaborates with social activists and makes creative use of consumer electronics can create quick, simple, and inexpensive media productions that will directly benefit he least wealthy and least powerful among us." To the advantage of the powerful in our society, media-making is too often looked upon as the domain of "experts," something out of the reach of people without some very specific skills, or at least the financial means to hire someone with these skills. With Santomenna serving as video and audio producer, Megaphone is designed to close this gap by providing technical and creative assistance, audio and video production equipment, and media distribution to those who need it.

As opposed to process-oriented community media, which empowers people through training them to create their own media, Megaphone will operate along the lines of a mediamaker-for-hire, except that the service will be free of charge. As such, it will be effective for people who need a quick piece of media, allowing activists to focus on their message they want to deliver, secure that its production is in sympathetic, skilled hands. This type of direct media works best for activists working on a specific issue and who know pretty much whom they need to persuade.

"Using video, you can bring more voices in, and more places," Santomenna says. "Everyone who cares about an issue is not necessarily going to show up to a public hearing." And it would be equally difficult, for example, to get every member--or even one member--of city council out to a neighborhood whose survival might be effected by a decision on a particular issue. A video or similar piece can bring a perspective those in power are not often inclined to seek out or come across in daily life.

Santomenna soon will be devoting himself full-time to Megaphone Project. Interested groups or individuals in Baltimore can contact him at 410-243-9183 or paul-AT-megaphoneproject.org.