Press Release
Prepared Remarks by Joe Torres at the Free Press Summit
Contact: Timothy Karr, 201-533-8838
WASHINGTON -- Remarks by Joe Torres, government relations manager of Free Press, at the Free Press Summit: Ideas to Action in Washington, D.C.:
Last year, a Washington Post profile of FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn stated that she had never spent more than two consecutive weeks outside of South Carolina prior to moving to D.C. to join the Commission.
Do many of us here today remember what that was like, moving to this city, filled with the hope that we could actually make a difference in people’s lives?
For too many of us, however, that hope soon faded.
Because we saw firsthand -- once those curtains were pulled back -- how this town too often operates.
We saw how lawmakers and regulators were influenced by large corporations to support policies that undermined what’s best for the public.
We also learned that while the FCC is an independent government agency, it does not operate in some sort of separate universe, out of the reach of corporate or political influence.
But thankfully, over the past decade, many of us have found hope in FCC Commissioner Michael Copps, who has been a tireless advocate for the public interest.
And now, we have a new champion in FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn.
To be honest, there was a great deal of apprehension from all corners of the political spectrum, including from the public interest community, about Commissioner Clyburn’s nomination. Few knew of her, which made a lot of people nervous in this town.
Commissioner Clyburn is a native of South Carolina, where she served 11 years on the Public Service Commission and spent 14 years as the publisher of The Coastal Times, a weekly newspaper covering the African American community.
During her first year on the Commission, Commissioner Clyburn has fearlessly supported policies that benefit the public interest, such as Network Neutrality, and calling for the FCC to re-establish its authority to make sure every household has affordable broadband access.
Commissioner Clyburn is also the first African American woman to serve on the FCC. And during the past year, she has provided a voice to communities that are often marginalized by the Commission and by the media.
It is a reminder that there are still so many barriers to overcome, barriers that we have been fighting to overcome for nearly two centuries.
In 1827, when John Russwurm and Samuel Cornish published the first African-American owned newspaper in New York City called Freedom’s Journal, they wrote in the publication’s inaugural issue that “We wish to plead our own cause. Too long have others spoken for us. ...From the press and the pulpit we have suffered much by being incorrectly represented."
Tragically, those words still ring true today.
Communities of color continued to be harmed when we are unable to plead our own cause.
In recent years, several newspapers have actually taken the steps to apologize for failing to cover the civil rights movement, including The Tallahassee Democrat in 2006 for “openly opposing integration. “
Many radio and TV stations also ignored the civil rights movement during the 1960s, or used their stations to provide a forum for hate, like WLBT-TV in Jackson, Miss.
The station was run by a white supremacist who allowed the White Citizens Council to use the public airwaves to denounce federal efforts to integrate the South.
The station’s license was challenged by the United Church of Christ and local black leaders. But the court ruled in 1966 for the first time that the public had legal standing to contest a license, which is why so many of us are able to work today on reforming the media.
But communities of color are still harmed by the business practices of media companies and our nation’s media policies that have resulted in fewer media companies owning more of what we watch and read and often covering our communities stereotypically.
This is why we applauded Commissioner Clyburn’s leadership when she recently discussed why she supports Network Neutrality, stating that we are living through "one of those rare moments in time where a sea change is actually possible for groups that have traditionally been marginalized.”
This is why communities of color across the country, groups the FCC normally does not hear from or seek out, have embraced her.
She gives us hope that she is fighting for us in making sure the FCC will protect our right to plead our own cause.
So please join me in welcoming FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn.
Last year, a Washington Post profile of FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn stated that she had never spent more than two consecutive weeks outside of South Carolina prior to moving to D.C. to join the Commission.
Do many of us here today remember what that was like, moving to this city, filled with the hope that we could actually make a difference in people’s lives?
For too many of us, however, that hope soon faded.
Because we saw firsthand -- once those curtains were pulled back -- how this town too often operates.
We saw how lawmakers and regulators were influenced by large corporations to support policies that undermined what’s best for the public.
We also learned that while the FCC is an independent government agency, it does not operate in some sort of separate universe, out of the reach of corporate or political influence.
But thankfully, over the past decade, many of us have found hope in FCC Commissioner Michael Copps, who has been a tireless advocate for the public interest.
And now, we have a new champion in FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn.
To be honest, there was a great deal of apprehension from all corners of the political spectrum, including from the public interest community, about Commissioner Clyburn’s nomination. Few knew of her, which made a lot of people nervous in this town.
Commissioner Clyburn is a native of South Carolina, where she served 11 years on the Public Service Commission and spent 14 years as the publisher of The Coastal Times, a weekly newspaper covering the African American community.
During her first year on the Commission, Commissioner Clyburn has fearlessly supported policies that benefit the public interest, such as Network Neutrality, and calling for the FCC to re-establish its authority to make sure every household has affordable broadband access.
Commissioner Clyburn is also the first African American woman to serve on the FCC. And during the past year, she has provided a voice to communities that are often marginalized by the Commission and by the media.
It is a reminder that there are still so many barriers to overcome, barriers that we have been fighting to overcome for nearly two centuries.
In 1827, when John Russwurm and Samuel Cornish published the first African-American owned newspaper in New York City called Freedom’s Journal, they wrote in the publication’s inaugural issue that “We wish to plead our own cause. Too long have others spoken for us. ...From the press and the pulpit we have suffered much by being incorrectly represented."
Tragically, those words still ring true today.
Communities of color continued to be harmed when we are unable to plead our own cause.
In recent years, several newspapers have actually taken the steps to apologize for failing to cover the civil rights movement, including The Tallahassee Democrat in 2006 for “openly opposing integration. “
Many radio and TV stations also ignored the civil rights movement during the 1960s, or used their stations to provide a forum for hate, like WLBT-TV in Jackson, Miss.
The station was run by a white supremacist who allowed the White Citizens Council to use the public airwaves to denounce federal efforts to integrate the South.
The station’s license was challenged by the United Church of Christ and local black leaders. But the court ruled in 1966 for the first time that the public had legal standing to contest a license, which is why so many of us are able to work today on reforming the media.
But communities of color are still harmed by the business practices of media companies and our nation’s media policies that have resulted in fewer media companies owning more of what we watch and read and often covering our communities stereotypically.
This is why we applauded Commissioner Clyburn’s leadership when she recently discussed why she supports Network Neutrality, stating that we are living through "one of those rare moments in time where a sea change is actually possible for groups that have traditionally been marginalized.”
This is why communities of color across the country, groups the FCC normally does not hear from or seek out, have embraced her.
She gives us hope that she is fighting for us in making sure the FCC will protect our right to plead our own cause.
So please join me in welcoming FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn.
