Minneapolis Event Showcases Media Reform Movement
and diverse media.
"This event is for anyone who cares about the media and is committed to making it better," said Josh Silver, executive director of Free Press. "Millions of people have come to understand that progress on any issue they care about is impossible unless we first fix the problems of the media. This heightened public passion promises to have a profound
impact on America's media landscape."
The National Conference for Media Reform will kick off with keynote speeches from
Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.); Lawrence Lessig, Stanford University law professor;
Adrienne Maree Brown, The Ruckus Society; Janis Lane-Ewart, with KFAI-FM; and
Josh Silver, co-founder and executive director of Free Press.
Today's panel highlights include:
1:30 p.m. - 3 p.m. CT:
"Media and Elections: Uncovering 2008" -- David Sirota, Santita Jackson, John Nichols and Robert "Biko" Baker
"Future of the Internet: Open, Neutral, Mobile and Ubiquitous" -- Tim Wu, Timothy Karr, Susan Crawford, Eloise-Rose Lee and Jef Pearlman
"Free Speech in the 21st Century" -- C. Edwin Baker, Marvin Ammori, Caroline Fredrickson and Josh Wolf
"How Independent Media Creates Change" -- Jane Hamsher, Robert Greenwald, Tracy Van Slyke, Jefferson Morley and Daisy Hernández
"Corporate Media Confidential" -- Catherine Crier, Cliff Schecter, Jeff Cohen and Craig Aaron
3:30 p.m. - 5 p.m. CT:
"How Far Have We Come? People of Color in the Mass Media" -- George Curry, Kristal Brent Zook, Rosa A. Clemente, Keith Kamisugi, Laura Waterman Wittstock and Joseph Torres
"Legislation 2.0: Self-Governance and Policy on the Open Internet" -- Matt Stoller, Micah Sifry, Russell A. Newman and Andre Banks
"The Changing Role of Media Critics" -- Eric Boehlert, Eric Deggans, Janine Jackson, Paul Schmelzer and Diane Farsetta
"Minnesota Model: Countering Corporate Media" -- David Schimke, Janis Lane-Ewart, Jeremy Iggers, Kathy Magnuson, Sarah Lutman and Vickie Evans-Nash
"Shaping the Internet" -- Abdulai Bah, Alexis Walker, Brian Garrido, Donald Anthonyso and Joshua Breitbart
8:00 p.m. - 10:30 p.m. CT:
"Film: Body of War" -- followed by a discussion with Phil Donahue, Robert W. McChesney and John Nichols
Online registration for conference participants and members of the press is now closed. However, those wishing to attend and cover the conference can still register at the Minneapolis Convention Center.
Speakers scheduled for Saturday and Sunday include legendary journalists
Bill Moyers of PBS and Dan Rather, former anchor of CBS News; North Dakota, Sen. Byron Dorgan; FCC Commissioners Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein; Arianna Huffington of HuffingtonPost.com; Van Jones of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights; Amy Goodman, host of Democracy Now!; Naomi Klein, author of
The full conference schedule and regular updates are at
www.freepress.net/conference.
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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.
Learn more at
www.freepress.net
