History

MediaMouse was an activist group and independent media project in Grand Rapids, Michigan that began in 1999 and existed in various forms until  June of 2009.

There’s no comprehensive history of the project, but this website collects the majority of the content produced by the group and documents its activities. For those looking for a start point in learning more about Media Mouse, check out the article “The End of Mediamouse.org.”

For additional information, the best document of the group’s activities is this website.

You can also see a collection of screenshots of Mediamouse.org

This synopsis was published on MediaMouse.org at some point in the mid-2000s:

Media Mouse began in 1999 around the time of the demonstrations against the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Seattle. With the shutdown of the WTO Summit and the emergence of the indymedia network, activists working on a variety of issues in Grand Rapids realized the need to organize with a consciousness of the ways in which the corporate media (both locally and nationally) influenced struggles for social change.

For the first three years of its existence, Media Mouse functioned primarily as a general activist group. Media Mouse staged a “Rally for Alternative Transit” (see the video) in early 2000 when Grand Rapids’ S-Curve was closed and traffic was rerouted through the predominately residential Heartside Neighborhood. Following the “Rally for Alternative Transit,” Media Mouse organized a series of protests against corporate globalization including a rally against the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) in solidarity with the protests in Washington DC (documented in a Media Mouse video), a protest during World Trade Week when a World Bank economist visited Grand Rapids, and a July 4 protest against corporate influence. During this time, Media Mouse also traveled to Quebec City for the April 2001 protests against the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), producing both pictures and video, as well as speaking about the protest at various forums.

In January of 2004, Media Mouse’s focus shifted completely to providing regular news updates. Since that time, Media Mouse has covered a number of important local and national stories.