Meet me in Memphis
On the shores of the Mississippi River later this week, media activists, policymakers, scholars, students, artists, and all kinds of concerned citizens will gather to discuss the future of communications in America. Will you be there? Or will the strong – and growing – media reform movement be 2007’s most undercovered story?
The attendees of the National Conference for Media Reform are but a small slice of the millions of people and organizations that stopped former-Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell’s attempt to loosen media ownership rules. In 2006, the this same movement, growing stronger, stopped telecommunications overhaul legislation and delayed the merger of AT&T and BellSouth until the new company committed to equitable treatment of all traffic traveling on the Internet. In Nashville, Tennessee, hundreds of citizens recently attended a field hearing and let the FCC know they oppose any easing of media ownership rules.
In 2005, the Media Reform Conference was largely ignored by both the mainstream and trade press. There was little notice of a sold out meeting discussing legislation and regulation of broadcast television and radio, cable, wireless and wireline telephony and the Internet. Or that the meeting drew many sitting and former Members of Congress and the FCC.
Media Reform Conference attendees “get it.†They understand that the Media sets the agenda, frames it and can limit it. They understand that although there are many important issues – the environment, health, public safety, education, poverty, campaign finance reform – Media is the thread that links them all. For it is the editorial decisions of media outlet owners, editors and journalists that determines what we see, hear, and read. In their hands lies citizens’ ability to get their message out and make a difference.
I believe we are embarking on a new journey – kept afloat – and indeed propelled – by the interest, enthusiasm, and energy of a new generation of people concerned about our media future. Collecting in Memphis this week are new enlistees in the battle to preserve, protect, and strengthen the public space in America's media environment.
I challenge reporters from all beats – from industry trade press, to Arts reporters, to Washington watchdogs – to meet me and the thousands of others gathering in Memphis. Join us as we discuss visions for a more public interest-oriented media system in the US; build skills for more media reform activism; and sketch out goals and strategies for advancing positive media policy and increasing public participation in media policy making.
Journalists obviously have a stake in the communications landscape of the future; we all do. We’re at a crossroads. Without the light of public scrutiny, Washington policymakers could allow greater consolidation in media ownership while further weakening public interest obligations. With public pressure, we may help those same policymakers envision a democratic media future. In this alternative vision, we, as American citizens, could have a media environment that delivers a vigorous, uninhibited marketplace of ideas. In this alternative vision, we could have a media environment that reflects and responds to local communities. In this alternative vision, we could have a media environment that embraces and enhances the public interest.
At stake is who controls what we see, hear, and read. At stake is our ability to get our message out and make a difference. At stake is nothing less than the health of our democracy.
Meet me in Memphis.
Charles Benton is Chairman & CEO of the Benton Foundation, a private foundation that is committed to articulating a public interest vision for the digital age and demonstrating the value of communications for solving social problems. Along with media policy, the foundation is also committed to strengthening public service media, including community media.