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THE UNDERGROUND PRESS vs THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA:THE STORY OF THE SHADOWor"FREEDOM OF THE PRESS" IS GUARANTEED TO ANYBODY WHO OWNS ONE"By Chris Flash, EditorThe SHADOW, New York City's only underground newspaper, came about as a result of the Tompkins Square Police Riot of August 6, 1988 on the Lower East Side. Having experienced the riot running from charging cops on foot and horseback and watching friends and strangers being chased and beaten bloody at random by cops all night long, we knew first hand what the riot had been all about. In the days following the riot, the mainstream media was sympathetic toward those who had been victimized by the police violence, mostly due to videos and photos provided by neighborhood residents and freelancers. However, within a week, things changed dramatically as the mainstream media echoed the mayor and police in blaming the riot on those beaten by the police, labeling them "rich kids from Scarsdale" and backing cop claims that they were provoked into beating people senseless that night. As a result of the twisted and distorted mainstream media coverage stemming from the riot, we realized that there were no alternative media sources in our neighborhood, where underground newspapers like the RAT and East Village Other had flourished from the late 1960s through the early 70s. So, we decided to fill the void. The SHADOW has been publishing steadily as a newspaper since March of 1989. Our reporters, artists and photographers are mostly from the Lower East Side, and all are committed political activists who share our mission to expose, inform and entertain our readers with news, graphics and photos they will never see in the mainstream media. The SHADOW will print anything of interest to our readers as long as it is true and can be documented. Surprisingly, several mainstream media reporters have written stories for us that their editors have refused to print due to their controversial nature!! SHADOW reporters are dedicated to their roles in the alternative press and some of us have been paying the price for exercising First Amendment rights--we have been arrested in the process of covering riots and demonstrations and we occasionally receive death threats from the police and their sympathizers. The SHADOW is now expanding its internet news operations so that we can provide up-to-the-minute reportage of news events on the Lower East Side and anywhere else we have correspondents. Our ultimate goal is seeing an underground/alternative newspaper/zine in every town and city in the country. We can no longer rely on the mainstream media for the real news, so it is up to the underground press to fill the void!! |
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