National Conference for Media Reform June 5, 2008

Join fellow activists, media makers, educators, journalists, policymakers and concerned citizens in calling for real and lasting changes to our nation's media system.

2008 provides us with a great opportunity to put the issue of media reform in the national spotlight. Join us in Minneapolis and help us build this critical movement.

Register Now. Of course, you don't need to register to keep tabs on NCMR 2008 — just join our mailing list or follow the blog.

The National Conference for Media Reform (NCMR) will bring us together in Minnesota’s Twin Cities to make media reform a bona fide issue on the national political agenda. It will be a weekend chock full of exhilarating learning, sharing, networking, and training opportunities.
Our conference program is now in development.
A preliminary list of conference panels and workshops is available now; a more detailed program will be available in early May.

Over three days, the conference will feature 60 fascinating panel discussions and workshops plus inspiring speeches, multimedia presentations, film screenings, roundtable meetings with policymakers, regional caucuses for you to meet media reformers from your home state, and dozens of receptions and parties. We will focus on broadening the media reform movement, envisioning the future of our media system, harnessing new technology for change, and achieving concrete policy victories through sustainable organizing.

The conference will be organized around five themed tracks:
Media Policy
Sessions in this track will overview media policy issues, discuss media problems and their policy solutions, convey the history of media policy, compare alternative regulatory systems, etc.
Media Reform Activism and Movement Building
Sessions in this track will include how-to workshops, "best practice" case studies in media reform activism, models for successful campaigns, strategies for engaging key constituencies, histories of media activism, etc.

Journalism and Independent Media
Sessions in this track will focus on the state of journalism, look at how media reform impacts working journalists, and survey the diverse landscape of public, community, ethnic, alternative and new media.

Civil Rights, Social Justice, and Media
Sessions in this track will discuss linkages between media and social and economic justice issues (for example: media rights as civil rights; media and voting rights; disparities in access to and control of media).

Media and Democracy: The Next Frontier
This track will explore future directions in media reform activism in a world of changing technology, evolving policy paradigms and emerging social change strategies. Sessions will focus on innovative concepts in media reform.

Self-Organized Sessions
Conference participants are invited to self-organize workshops, discussions, or meetings at the conference on relevant media reform issues that may not be adequately covered in the formal conference program. If you’re interested in organizing a session or meeting, please plan to sign up for a meeting space and a time slot at the information booth in the convention center. We will post signs next to the information booth that advertise times and locations for self-organized sessions. Organizers of on-site workshops and meetings may also want to produce fliers or handouts to promote your gathering. We are confident there will be plenty of space for everyone who is interested in generating a self-organized meeting to do so.

Official Website: http://www.freepress.net/conference