Press Release
Bill Moyers: Take Back the Media Before It's Too Late
Contact: Timothy Karr, 201-533-8838
MEMPHIS - Journalist and author Bill Moyers denounced Big Media corporations Friday in a fiery speech that opened the National Conference for Media Reform in Memphis.
Moyers told a packed house of more than 3,000 activists and organizers that the independent press is under sustained attack, with a few corporations conspiring with political leaders to create an Orwellian world "in which language conceals reality, and the pursuit of personal gain and partisan power are wrapped in rhetoric that turns truth to lies and lies to truth."
Full video and audio of Moyers' Speech is available at http://www.freepress.net/conference
Evoking the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Moyers compared big media corporations to plantation owners and American media consumers to their slaves. "What happened to radio, happened to television, and then it happened to cable. If we are not diligent, then it will happen to the Internet, [creating] a media plantation for the 21st century dominated by the same corporate and ideological forces that have controlled the media for the last 50 years."
"Something is wrong with this system," Moyers added. "This is the moment freedom begins, the moment you realize someone else has been writing your story, and it's time you took the pen from his hand and started writing it yourself."
Moyers honed in on the issue of Net Neutrality, which he dubbed the "Equal Access Provision of the Internet," and praised SavetheInternet.com's grassroots and online organizing efforts, saying that Washington hadn't reckoned with this movement "that once again reminded the powers that be that people want the media to foster democracy, not to quench it."
Moyers called the SavetheInternet.com campaign critical, as soon virtually all media will be delivered to homes via a single high speed broadband connection. "We now have it in our means to tell a different story than Big Media," Moyers said. "This is the great gift of the digital revolution, and you must never let them take it away from you."
At a celebration in Memphis on Thursday night, the SavetheInternet.com Coalition unveiled the "Internet Freedom Declaration of 2007," which sets forth its plan not just for winning Net Neutrality in the next Congress, but establishing faster, universal and affordable broadband for everyone.
Read the Declaration: http://www.freepress.net/docs/netfreedomdeclaration-front.pdf
Speakers and presenters scheduled to appear on Saturday in Memphis include FCC Commissioners Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein, Sen. Bernie Sanders, Academy Award-winning actress Geena Davis, Rep. Ed Markey, Rev. Lennox Yearwood and Free Press founder Robert W. McChesney.
Full coverage and streaming video from the conference can be found a http://www.freepress.net/conference
Free Press is a national, nonpartisan organization working to reform the media. Through education, organizing and advocacy, we promote diverse and independent media ownership, strong public media, and universal access to communications.
Moyers told a packed house of more than 3,000 activists and organizers that the independent press is under sustained attack, with a few corporations conspiring with political leaders to create an Orwellian world "in which language conceals reality, and the pursuit of personal gain and partisan power are wrapped in rhetoric that turns truth to lies and lies to truth."
Full video and audio of Moyers' Speech is available at http://www.freepress.net/conference
Evoking the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Moyers compared big media corporations to plantation owners and American media consumers to their slaves. "What happened to radio, happened to television, and then it happened to cable. If we are not diligent, then it will happen to the Internet, [creating] a media plantation for the 21st century dominated by the same corporate and ideological forces that have controlled the media for the last 50 years."
"Something is wrong with this system," Moyers added. "This is the moment freedom begins, the moment you realize someone else has been writing your story, and it's time you took the pen from his hand and started writing it yourself."
Moyers honed in on the issue of Net Neutrality, which he dubbed the "Equal Access Provision of the Internet," and praised SavetheInternet.com's grassroots and online organizing efforts, saying that Washington hadn't reckoned with this movement "that once again reminded the powers that be that people want the media to foster democracy, not to quench it."
Moyers called the SavetheInternet.com campaign critical, as soon virtually all media will be delivered to homes via a single high speed broadband connection. "We now have it in our means to tell a different story than Big Media," Moyers said. "This is the great gift of the digital revolution, and you must never let them take it away from you."
At a celebration in Memphis on Thursday night, the SavetheInternet.com Coalition unveiled the "Internet Freedom Declaration of 2007," which sets forth its plan not just for winning Net Neutrality in the next Congress, but establishing faster, universal and affordable broadband for everyone.
Read the Declaration: http://www.freepress.net/docs/netfreedomdeclaration-front.pdf
Speakers and presenters scheduled to appear on Saturday in Memphis include FCC Commissioners Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein, Sen. Bernie Sanders, Academy Award-winning actress Geena Davis, Rep. Ed Markey, Rev. Lennox Yearwood and Free Press founder Robert W. McChesney.
Full coverage and streaming video from the conference can be found a http://www.freepress.net/conference
Free Press is a national, nonpartisan organization working to reform the media. Through education, organizing and advocacy, we promote diverse and independent media ownership, strong public media, and universal access to communications.
