NCMR in the News

An attendee at the National Conference for Media Reform 2008 in Minneapolis describes some of the panel discussions.

When the National Conference for Media Reform met here last month, it was the largest gathering of responsible adults ever to address the democracy-destroying impact big media has on America.

Free Press Policy Director Craig Aaron discusses the latest concerns of Free Press and talks about the recent National Conference for Media Reform, which took place in Minneapolis in June 2008. (Audio 27:00)

A diverse and experienced roster of media leaders headed up this year's National Conference for Media Reform, held recently in Minneapolis, Minn.

Akaku: Maui Community Television's "Media Salon Guest Series" will feature Akaku President Jay April, who will share his recent experience at the National Conference for Media Reform.

The foolish, failed, attempt to ambush Bill Moyers by Fox News at the National Conference for Media Reform was a microcosm of the Iraq War: There was no exit strategy.

As with the first three gatherings, the fourth National Conference on Media Reform went conspicuously missing on the pages, screens, airwaves and cables of what attendees nowadays refer to as the MSM, mainstream media.

While most Americans enjoy more radio, television, and Internet channels, many do not realize that behind the channel is less choice. Currently, only six corporations control most of what Americans hear, see, and read.

The point of a free and pluralistic society is that we can look at the same set of facts and come to radically different conclusions, debate those conclusions, and let the people decide.

The 2008 National Conference for Media Reform attracted more than 3,500 participants from across the Nation to continue the fight for a free and independent media. But the absence of organized labor at the conference frustrated the editor of the Labor Review.

The media corporations, CEOs and politicians who top this year's "Media Hall of Shame," were unveiled in Minneapolis during the National Conference for Media Reform.

At the 2008 National Conference for Media Reform, legendary journalist Bill Moyers electrified an audience of more than 3,500, calling the media reform movement "the most significant citizens' movement to emerge in this new century." Read Moyers' entire speech here.

Some 3,500 stout hearts attended the National Conference for Media Reform last week, and if that seems few for such a big job, note that their numbers are growing. Bill Moyers, the keynote speaker, accurately described media reform as “the most significant citizens' movement to emerge in this new century.”

The National Conference for Media Reform addressed many important issues. Attendees discussed media justice, Net Neutrality, community involvement with local broadcast outlets and international human rights. But Fox News provided a distorted, issue-free look at the event.

As the diversity of media ownership shrinks -- along with the diversity of voices that are broadcast -- people are fighting back, organizing, creating alternatives and holding the corporate media giants accountable. There's no better time to join the movement for media reform.

Many television and radio programs have representatives with ties to hate groups as commentators on subjects such as immigration. But there are resources to keep track of the groups to help viewers and listeners uncover the source of the hate speech.

The state of the Internet, and our fight to safeguard and spread access to the Web, was the focus of a crowded panel discussion at the National Conference for Media Reform last week in Minneapolis.

There were two National Conferences on Media Reform in Minneapolis over the weekend: the one I attended and the one Bill O'Reilly, Juan Williams and Fox News talking head Mary Catherine Ham didn't.

There are moments in every decade when monumental struggles for social change finally tip in favor of the public interest. Now we're facing another tipping point. Our fight is to reform our broken media system.