This was the third year I attended the National Conference for Media Reform sponsored by Free Press. This year's conference was held in Minneapolis. As in previous media reform conferences, I was reminded about many of the hurdles faced by those American citizens who are attempting to get serious and coherent coverage of the news. By "news," I mean the type of information that is critically important in order to prepare us to make good decisions as citizens (i.e., voting). One of the most distressing things one learns from attending the conference is that very little news is available to those watch local TV "news" and read their local "news"papers. One of the fundamental principles of Free Press is that there cannot be a healthy democracy without a vigorous news media. The problem is that our news media is sickly, poisoned by rampant commercialism. The modern corporate media is over-consolidated to such an extent that it reflexively kowtows to political power and repeatedly refuses to challenge abuses of that power.

McChesney/Nichols - Part I

Topics covered in Part I:

• Is the media reform movement paying too much attention to Bill O'Reilly and FOX?
• The basic aims of the media reform movement.
• More on Free Press and the reason for the media reform movement.
• The problem with over-consolidation of the media.

Free Press stands for the proposition that there is no stark divide between journalists and citizens.