Mailbox: Censored News

Mailbox: Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com
Photo: Bolivian President Evo Morales enjoys a traditional feast, after playing soccer in the mountains of Bolivia, during the climate summit in April. Photo Brenda Norrell.

Dear readers,

Many readers write to ask about blogging. Here's a few things to consider if you're thinking about it. To keep a blog up to date, you need Internet access, and to post photos and videos you need high speed Internet access.

If you live in a remote area, this means a great deal of expense just getting to the Internet (besides all that expensive coffee.)

The Blogger is free, but if you do original reporting as I do at Censored News, the travel expenses can be thousands of dollars each year, which you'll likely be paying for yourself.

Unfortunately, even though Censored News has about 1,000 readers each day, people seldom donate to Censored News. (The donations each year don't even cover the cost of basic cell phone service.)

I've published Censored News nearly four years as a service to Indigenous writers who find it difficult to find a voice in the mainstream media. I know most of the writers personally. I choose to publish Censored News without advertising for ethical reasons.

The articles and photos at Censored News are copyrighted by the authors and photographers. Permission should be gained from each author or photographer before reposting.

There are new developments in the Internet news that everyone should be aware of, including recent lawsuits filed by mainstream newspapers against website owners and bloggers who publish their articles without permission.

More than 90 lawsuits were filed against bloggers, without giving bloggers a chance to remove the mainstream news articles. One newspaper says no amount of content may be reposted, even a small amount. They're even filing lawsuit against their sources (the people interviewed in the articles) if they repost the articles without permission. Yes, they're filing lawsuits against non-profits as well.

As for posting photos on the Internet, due to the possibility of theft and copyright violations, photos should always be posted with the photographer's permission and include the photo credit/copyright alongside each photo.

So, if you're thinking about blogging, be prepared for much more unpaid work than you're anticipating.

When it comes to posting on your blog, always get permission. Otherwise, you might find yourself with a trip to court and the need for an attorney.

As for the good news, Censored News won a Project Censored Award in 2009, was successful in finding sponsors for four Native Americans to attend the Bolivia Climate Summit in Cochabamba, Bolivia, in April, and has an international family of readers like you.

Thanks for reading Censored News, Brenda Norrell
brendanorrell@gmail.com

About Censored News: Publisher Brenda Norrell has been a news reporter in Indian country for 28 years, serving as a writer for Navajo Times, Lakota Times and others.
During the 18 years she lived on the Navajo Nation, Brenda Norrell served as a correspondent for Associated Press and USA Today, covering federal court and the Navajo Nation. After serving as a longtime staff writer for Indian Country Today, she was first censored, then terminated by Indian Country Today in 2006.
Censored News was created as a result of this censorship.
During the past decades as a journalist, she traveled with the Zapatistas through Mexico and cohosted the five-month Longest Walk Northern Route Talk Radio across America in 2008 on Earthcycles grassroots web radio. She cohosted anti-uranium mining forums on Havasupai and Acoma Pueblo, and Indigenous Peoples Border Summits, on Earthcycles.
In April, she attended the Bolivia Climate Summit and reported on the visionary declarations -- including the Peoples Agreement, Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the Declaration on the Rights of Mother Earth.
Photo: Earthcycles bus at the end of the Longest Walk in DC 2008. Earthcycles www.earthcycles.net Photo by Brenda Norrell