On the eve of what may be the most important election in U.S. history, the Indymedia network announces the launch of a new and indispensable website for gathering the news and views of ordinary people across the country and around the world.

With its mission of publishing independent, on-the-ground reports from the people who experience the news most directly, indymedia.us will amplify the voices of those most directly impacted not only by the elections process, but by the policies of either a Bush or Kerry administration.

"Indymedia has changed the face of journalism through its creative and comprehensive coverage from the front lines of struggles for social justice through out the world," says Amy Goodman, host of Democracy Now!, the independent public radio and TV news hour. "With its vast network of unembedded journalists throughout the country indymedia.us will become a weapon in the fight for the truth about what happens on November 2nd and beyond."

The US IMC website centers around a syndicated wire of all featured articles published by participating local US-based IMCs. As with all Indymedia sites, the USIMC¹s open publishing newswire empowers people to become the media by posting their articles, photos, videos, and audio clips directly to the website¹s wire. But the US IMC¹s main function is to make the news that is published, culled and edited to local IMC sites relevant and accessible to a broader audience.

There are currently 165 autonomous Independent Media Centers (IMC) around the world. Over 50 of them are based in the United States.

Indymedia is a grassroots network committed to using media production and distribution as tools for promoting social and economic justice. It is dedicated to addressing issues that the mainstream media neglects and hopes to empower people to "become the media" by providing democratic access to available technologies and information.

Visit the site at: http://us.indymedia.org or http://indymedia.us

Contact imc-us at indymedia.org Many IMCs (including the Urbana-Champaign IMC) will be covering the election.

The Indypendent leads off with pre-election analysis and coverage.

At the moment, local IMC's in Michigan and Portland will have the most comprehensive coverage to election day.

There are also IMC's in multiple "swing states," including Arkansas, Colorado, Tallahasee, Minneapolis / St. Paul, New Hampshire, Philadelphia, Madison, Milwaukee, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and Tampa Bay.