Media Co-op AGM 2020-21: Sat March 13 // Coop Média AGA sam le 13 mars

Media Co-op AGM 2020-2021: Saturday, March 13, 2021 

The Media Co-op’s latest Annual General Meeting (AGM) will take place on Saturday, March 13, 2021 over Zoom at 2:00 PM EST (US and Canada). (Joining instructions below.) 

We will be discussing these and other exciting topics: 

• The latest iteration of the soon-to-be-launched new website 

• Extensive in-depth coverage the cooperative saw in 2020 

• Upcoming fundraising campaigns  

• The possible revival of the Co-op’s Investigative Journalism Fund 

This year’s AGM, as usual,  includes a call for motions from Co-op and Board members (#1 below). 

Several Board of Director positions are also up for nominations and election (# 2 below). Members of the Board, who are all volunteers, help steer the organization’s financial and strategic decisions and create policy and bylaws for the cooperative. 

To learn more about the organization, check out these links to Media Co-op’s bylaws, its structure, and current Board of Directors. 

Media Co-op Annual General Meeting 2020-2021 

What: A nationwide meeting where we discuss what’s happening with the Media Co-op, elect representatives to the Board of Directors, give feedback and engage in envisioning the future of the Co-op. 

When: Saturday, March 13, 2021, 2 pm EST (3:30 pm in NL, 3:00 in NS/PEI/NB, 2:00 in QC/ON, 1:00 in MB, 1:00 in SK/AB, 11:00 in BC). 

Where: Due to social distancing rules caused by the COVID-19 Pandemic, this year’s AGM will be held through Zoom.

To Join Zoom Meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83974730364

Meeting ID: 839 7473 0364

Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/ke4zjuWdh

Contact [email protected] to see about other call-in arrangements. 

1. Call for motions: The Media Co-op is all about democratizing media space and allowing our audience/members to have their voices heard. So, if you have anything you’d like to have added to the conversation, feel free to connect with us at [email protected] with the subject line “Proposed AGM Agenda Item.” The deadline to send in suggestions is on March 6, 2021, though items can be proposed for consideration during the AGM pending member’s approval. 

2. Call for nominations: Democratic media is also participatory. That’s why we encourage our members to nominate anyone they think would make a great contribution to the team. Simply send in a ~250-word bio and a headshot of the person you’re nominating with the subject line “Board Representative Nomination.” You can nominate yourself. The bio – also due March 6, 2021 – will be posted on our website prior to the AGM to help members make their voting decisions. Nominations can be made past this date, though those will be pending approval from the Board. The following positions are open: 

• Reader Representative (2 positions) 

• Contributor Representative (1 position) 

• Editor Representative (1 position) 

3) Voting: During the AGM, you’ll be able to vote by secret electronic ballot on motions and representative elections. The electronic voting process will be explained during the meeting for those who attend and the results will be publicized on our website and on social media. 

4) Questions? Don’t hesitate to email us at [email protected] 

UPDATES

Over the last few years, the Media Co-op has been undergoing a slow but steady transformation.  

For one, as many of our supporters and subscribers will have noticed, local chapters are no longer active. This was in large part due to the fact that many of the organization’s founding members and long-time members of locals who had volunteered their time and skills for years began to feel the exhaustion of running an independent grassroots media organization and eventually moved on. By 2016, the final issue of the flagship magazine under which the Co-op had first begun – The Dominion – was published. After that, truth be told, the Media Co-op and its barebone-volunteer staff and board members struggled to keep the organization afloat.  

In fact, by 2017, things looked dire. Our website was in need of repair and the local chapters were slowing down and closing. Our editorial capacity was also maxing out, which meant there was very little original content going up on the site. For a while, we were in significant debt.   

But allowing this great experiment in democratic media to fail was not an option.  

It was then that your support not only came through and allowed us to pay off that debt, but it kept us going and helped breathe new life into the organization!  

An influx of writers and new members has helped us produce – once again — hard-hitting grassroots journalism: from Indigenous rights issues covered by Indigenous journalists, to analyses on the homelessness crisis from the eyes of those living it, to accounts of movements for justice and liberation beginning from the perspectives of those in struggle, to investigations uncovering the harmful actions of Canadian corporations and governments, to foreign policy critiques, our members have brought the Co-op to the forefront once again, challenging the tired, oppressive status quo of the mainstream media.  

As we enter a new chapter, we will be discussing possible new ways to curate and promote our content on the website, including revisiting the role of open-source publishing in the current online environment.

And that’s only the beginning! 

We hope to see/hear many of you there this March 13th, 2021, at 2 PM EST!