Media Channel, May 15, 2008
By Yolanda Hippensteele

Minneapolis and St. Paul are preparing for the arrival of thousands of media activists June 6-8. People are descending on the Twin Cites to attend the fourth National Conference for Media Reform.

The Twin Cities Daily Planet caught up with Free Press Executive Director Josh Silver to find out how the conference will plug people into the most pressing media issues – media consolidation, quality journalism and the future of the Internet.

Silver told the Daily Planet there is a deep connection between democracy and the media. “Due to consolidation and lap dog journalism, we are seeing a mainstream media that hinders rather than helps democracy,” he said. “People understand that if we are going to be able to learn about and elect good candidates, if we are going to be able to advance any issue that we care about, we have to build a different media system.”

Bill Moyers, Amy Goodman, Juan Gonzalez, Arianna Huffington, Katrina vanden Heuvel, Davey D, Van Jones and Naomi Klein are among the many notable speakers attending the conference, which will explore topics ranging from cell phone politics to hip hop activism.

Threaded through each of the 60 sessions will be one main goal: ensuring that media operates in the public’s interest.

“Are the laws that shape our media system going to be crafted on behalf of the giant corporations that own most of the media as they have been for decades, or are the laws going to be shaped on behalf of the American people?” Silver said. “That’s what this conference is about.”

For more information visit FreePress.

This article is copyrighted material, the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond fair use, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.