media reform

People in prison and their families are paying excessively high telephone bills to keep in touch. And in Chicago, four top TV news stations will share newsgathering resources, but one top station refused to join them.

National Public Radio plans to cut 7 percent of its workforce and cancel two shows that helped fill the gaps in diverse programming. And 2008 was a year of movement building for media reform and provided a number of actions that remind us why grass roots activism is so important.

It's nothing new, in fact this has been a problem for decades. The mainstream media has been putting a blindfold over our eyes. The American people are more concerned with whats happening on "American Idol" than what's happening in the world around them. Granted, world news is typically a grim subject. Even still, it's simply become a matter of what the media wants you to believe.

how do we do this? do we challenge katie couric to get down and dirty? do we get lou dobbs to take this on? after all he supposed to be for the people.

by Bill Moyers

Here we are again.
And our numbers are growing.

We were 1700 in Madison four years ago, 2500 in St. Louis a year later, 3200 in Memphis last year. And now here in St. Paul we are 3500 – and counting. You represent millions of Americans who see media consolidation as a corrosive social force. It robs them of their voice in public affairs, pollutes the political culture, and turns the debate over profound issues into a shouting match of polarized views promulgated by partisan apologists who trivialize democracy while refusing to speak the truth about how our country is being plundered.

What does it take to get heard in the era of big media and diminished civil liberties? Join us as we talk with journalists, national leaders and Minneapolis locals and explore how everyday people are confronting these challenges and working to get the truth out far and wide.

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Media activists are rallying support in the Senate for the bipartisan Resolution of Disapproval ” to overturn the FCC’s decision to relax media ownership rules. And Radio Arte, 90.5 FM, Chicago's Latino-owned, youth-driven, bilingual public radio station, teaches more than radio skills to young people.

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