Press Release
Minnesotans to make their voices heard on media concentration
Contact: Timothy Karr, 201-533-8838
ST. PAUL, Dec. 2 — Free Press, along with a broad coalition of local partners, is hosting a series of Public Testimony Workshops for Twin Cities residents to prepare comments for the St. Paul Media Concentration Forum at Hamline University on Thursday, Dec. 9. The forum, convened by Federal Communications Commissioners Jonathan Adelstein and Michael Copps, is a rare opportunity for the public to participate directly in creating media policies that serve the public interest.
Free and open to the public, the event in St. Paul is one of only a handful of public forums convened by the FCC commissioners. The forum will be held:
Thursday, Dec. 9
Hamline University
Sundin Hall
1531 Hewitt Ave.
7 – 11 p.m.
The forum will feature panel discussions on how media concentration affects diversity and local news and information. The forum will also include an open microphone session for the public to offer testimony on these topics as well as the implications of next year’s expected reopening of the Telecommunications Act – which could reshape the entire media landscape for years to come. All testimony will be recorded and submitted to the FCC and Minnesota’s elected officials.
“Far too often the public has been left out of the decision-making process on media policy,” said Josh Silver, executive director of Free Press. “Media consolidation and the accompanying quest for higher profits come at the expense of investigative journalism, quality entertainment, and meaningful political debate. This forum will give Minnesotans a rare opportunity to directly share their concerns with the FCC.”
Partners organizing around the event include KFAI, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) Twin Cities Local, Workday MN, Alliance for Community Media Midwest, CounterProp Coalition, Speakout Sisters, University of Minnesota Labor Education Service and Free Media Greens.
“The advent of media concentration in recent years has resulted in fewer voices and viewpoints being expressed,” said Janis Lane-Ewart, executive director of KFAI. “With an ever-growing audience for news, information and entertainment from diverse racial, social and economic backgrounds in the Twin Cities, the need for open and equal access is crucial.”
“AFTRA and other media industry unions are keenly interested in supporting opportunities such as this forum, which allow the public to weigh in on media ownership consolidation,” said Colleen Aho, executive director of AFTRA Twin Cities Local. “Media concentration affects all of us, whether as consumers, industry workers or as talent. It’s not too late to press for meaningful enforcement mechanisms to reform the destructive practices that exist today in television and radio broadcasting.”
A series of 10 workshops on media policy continues this week. Four remaining workshops, free and open to the public, are scheduled at the following locations and times:
Thursday, Dec. 2
Twin Cities Friends Meeting House, Fellowship Hall
1725 Grand Avenue, St. Paul
7 – 9 p.m.
Thursday, Dec. 2
Resource Center of the Americas
3019 Minnehaha Ave., Minneapolis
7 – 9 p.m.
Monday, Dec. 6
Metro State University Library Center
Third Floor, Ecolab Community Room, St. Paul
7 – 9 p.m.
Tuesday, Dec. 7
Brian Coyle Community Center
420 15th Av S, Minneapolis
6 – 8 p.m.
For more information, please visit http://www.freepress.net/future/=stpaul
Free Press (www.freepress.net) is a national, non-partisan organization that seeks to increase informed public participation in media policy and to promote a more competitive, public interest-oriented media system. Free Press was founded by University of Illinois professor, media scholar and author Robert W. McChesney.
Free and open to the public, the event in St. Paul is one of only a handful of public forums convened by the FCC commissioners. The forum will be held:
Thursday, Dec. 9
Hamline University
Sundin Hall
1531 Hewitt Ave.
7 – 11 p.m.
The forum will feature panel discussions on how media concentration affects diversity and local news and information. The forum will also include an open microphone session for the public to offer testimony on these topics as well as the implications of next year’s expected reopening of the Telecommunications Act – which could reshape the entire media landscape for years to come. All testimony will be recorded and submitted to the FCC and Minnesota’s elected officials.
“Far too often the public has been left out of the decision-making process on media policy,” said Josh Silver, executive director of Free Press. “Media consolidation and the accompanying quest for higher profits come at the expense of investigative journalism, quality entertainment, and meaningful political debate. This forum will give Minnesotans a rare opportunity to directly share their concerns with the FCC.”
Partners organizing around the event include KFAI, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) Twin Cities Local, Workday MN, Alliance for Community Media Midwest, CounterProp Coalition, Speakout Sisters, University of Minnesota Labor Education Service and Free Media Greens.
“The advent of media concentration in recent years has resulted in fewer voices and viewpoints being expressed,” said Janis Lane-Ewart, executive director of KFAI. “With an ever-growing audience for news, information and entertainment from diverse racial, social and economic backgrounds in the Twin Cities, the need for open and equal access is crucial.”
“AFTRA and other media industry unions are keenly interested in supporting opportunities such as this forum, which allow the public to weigh in on media ownership consolidation,” said Colleen Aho, executive director of AFTRA Twin Cities Local. “Media concentration affects all of us, whether as consumers, industry workers or as talent. It’s not too late to press for meaningful enforcement mechanisms to reform the destructive practices that exist today in television and radio broadcasting.”
A series of 10 workshops on media policy continues this week. Four remaining workshops, free and open to the public, are scheduled at the following locations and times:
Thursday, Dec. 2
Twin Cities Friends Meeting House, Fellowship Hall
1725 Grand Avenue, St. Paul
7 – 9 p.m.
Thursday, Dec. 2
Resource Center of the Americas
3019 Minnehaha Ave., Minneapolis
7 – 9 p.m.
Monday, Dec. 6
Metro State University Library Center
Third Floor, Ecolab Community Room, St. Paul
7 – 9 p.m.
Tuesday, Dec. 7
Brian Coyle Community Center
420 15th Av S, Minneapolis
6 – 8 p.m.
For more information, please visit http://www.freepress.net/future/=stpaul
Free Press (www.freepress.net) is a national, non-partisan organization that seeks to increase informed public participation in media policy and to promote a more competitive, public interest-oriented media system. Free Press was founded by University of Illinois professor, media scholar and author Robert W. McChesney.
