For the past two days, I've been reporting from the National Conference for Media Reform in Memphis. This conference is being sponsored by Free Press. Here is a link to the inspiring speech Bill Moyers delivered yesterday. I've sketched some notes below, as well, but there is no substitute for…
I’m reporting again from Memphis, where I am attending the National Conference for Media Reform sponsored by Free Press.
This morning, I attended a panel discussion entitled “Fighting for Air: The Battle to Control America’s Media. The panel was headed by Eric Klinenberg, who teaches sociology at New York University. He is also the author of Fighting for Air: the Battle to Control America’s Media (2007).
Klinenberg indicated that we have been experiencing decades of deregulation in the media industry and we’re now paying for it. To those who attended this conference, however, he asked whether they remembered the moment when they figured out that they did not have to accept the toxic misleading filtered version of the media that they had been getting. He asked them if they remembered that moment when they realized that they could do something about this problem, about this media that has become “a war-mongering media.”
Large corporations are striving to finish the job of taking over the media. They are trying to take over the entire media system and to “plunder” it for their own profits. How bad have things gotten? Klinenberg states that he can’t find a single person who is more pleased with the media today than he or she was 10 years ago. No one he asks tells him that “after that newspaper chain took over, I learned so much more about my community.”
Pete Tridish of Prometheus radio was the first speaker. Prometheus is handing out flyers containing …
It wasn’t on the original schedule of the National Conference for Media Reform, but Dennis Kucinich agreed to hold a press conference tonight. Kucinich ran for president of the United States in 2004. He has indicated that he plans to run again in 2008.
I hadn’t ever before been to to a press conference of a presidential candidate. I learned of it at the last minute. I packed my press credentials (the media reform conference granted these to me on the basis of this blog), my video camera, a still camera, a pad of paper and a couple pens and dashed to the designated area.
In his prepared remarks, Kucinich pounced on the issue of media reform. He demonstrated himself to be familiar with many aspects of media reform and the Internet. In the not-too-distant future, he intends to hold Congressional hearings on media reform (“for an entire week, if necessary”). He believes that media issues are among the most important issues facing this country today. In response to a question I asked, Kucinich said he considers the media reform to be closely related to the possibility of campaign finance reform. At the point when we have more of the former, he said, we will have the opportunity to implement the latter. Campaign finance reform should take the form of public financing, he asserted.
He invited those attending to submit their ideas for issues to explore at his media reform hearings. Foremost among those topics will be media ownership. In …
I am currently attending the National Conference for Media Reform at the downtown convention center in Memphis. It’s pretty amazing to see and feel all this energy everywhere I look. There will be in excess of 100 presentations. This is still the first day of the 2 1/2 day conference, yet I have already learned more than I can meaningfully absorb. For more on all the things going on out here, go to freepress.net.
Simply understanding concepts is not what this conference is really about. It’s about putting this understanding into action. The organizers chose the following quote of Dr. Martin Luther King for the first page of the conference guide: “And nettlesome task is to discover how to organize our strength into compelling power.”
It is media reform, in addition to being an important issue, an issue that inspires people to organize their strength into action? Apparently so. This is the third time freepress.net has sponsored a national media conference. The first conference drew 1,800 people to Madison, Wisconsin. Last year, 2,200 people came to St. Louis. This conference is being attended by the more than 3,000 people. According to one of the speakers, the current issue of The Nation features an article advocating the reform of the corrupt mainstream media. You won’t find much about this conference or these topics in the mainstream media, however (correct me if I’m wrong). That is not unexpected, given that the mainstream media is a constant target of criticism here.
It’s …
I have long known that one should never ever congratulate a woman for being pregnant unless one knows (really really knows) that she is happily pregnant.
About seven years ago, my wife told me that one of the women living in our neighborhood was pregnant. This surprised me, because I knew that Sally (not her real name) had told me that she had no interest in having children.
About an hour later, though, while I was walking about a neighborhood art fair, I saw Sally. I walked up to talk with her. I commented that we hadn’t seen each other for quite a few months. She gestured toward her abdomen and stated “I’ve put on some weight since then.” I had noticed that she had, indeed, gained considerable weight. Therefore, I stated “Congratulations!”
She asked, “Congratulations about what?”
I instantly knew that I had broken a very basic rule and I was now paying for it. Sally wasn’t pregnant. I quickly mumbled something like “congratulations about this year’s art fair.” Sally was a volunteer in charge of the art fair. She looked at me as if I was acting strange, but then we talked a bit more before parting ways.
When I got home, I asked my wife how she knew that Sally was pregnant. She said that one of the other neighbors had told her. I had assumed that my wife had talked to Sally herself and learned about Sally’s pregnancy firsthand. Instead, rumor had been turned into a …