Media Reform Takes Center Stage in Boston – June 2011
by Andrea Perrault
The National Conference on Media Reform was held in Boston on April 7, 8, and 9 at the Seaport Hotel and World Trade Center. The event brought over 2,500 representatives of media outlets and general news junkies to our city for a three day marathon of panels, keynote presentations, and strategy sessions to address the significant need for more balanced media coverage of world events to support a more informed public. I attended portions of the event on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
Conference sessions were organized by four strands: Policy and Politics, Social Justice and Movement Building, Journalism and Public Media, and Media Makers, Culture, and the Arts. My sessions choices fell in the Social Justice and Movement Building category: “Media and Corporate Power: Beating Back the K Street Juggernaut,” “On Wisconsin: Taking the Pulse of the Labor Beat,” “News for All: The Epic Story of Race and the American Media.” I also attended the opening Plenary to hear House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi call for more engaged and civil dialogue, as well as substantive media coverage to counter the voices of Tea Party and ultra conservatives that often dominate mainstream media.
Carole Simpson, formerly a national reporter and anchorperson shared stories from her career as a ground-breaking journalist (the first female, African-American to anchor a major network newscast). She documented the difficulties of breaking racial and gender barriers and her struggles to ensure that black communities were not portrayed in negative stereotypes. Juan Gonzalez of contributed accounts of racism in the news media and his attempts to counter them. Most enlightening to me (as I was most unaware of the information she shared) was the presentation of Native American Loris Ann Taylor of whose slide presentation highlighted the almost complete media denial of Indian American history and experience.
“Media and Corporate Power: Beating Back the K Street Juggernaut” focused on two issues: the recent FCC ruling against Net Neutrality, and the Supreme Court’s Citizens’ United decision. Speakers included Bob Edgar of , Jay Harris of We the People Project, Katrina van Heuvel of , and John Bonifaz of . Particularly compelling was John Bonifaz who presented the new initiative undertaken by his organization to build public support to fight the Citizens United decision which conferred citizenship rights to corporations. Given the fact that overwhelming numbers of Democrats, Republicans, and Independents believe that this should be reversed, he believes that this campaign can be effective. John has agreed to address ESB in the fall.
On Sunday morning, an important panel presentation focused on the labor movement after Wisconsin. In initial conference planning stages, the labor panel was expected to bring in fewer attendees, but after Wisconsin, conference organizers realized that this needed to have a more central focus, and the session was moved to the largest auditorium in the World Trade Center (over 300 people attended). Speakers addressed the phenomenon of Wisconsin and the current dilemmas in the labor movement that has lead to its diminished influence in the United States. While the numbers of union members have been significantly reduced, the civil action at the Wisconsin State House to oppose the Governor’s attack against public worker unions and their bargaining rights has given new life to union activism. Steve Early, Boston labor reporter from Labor Notes, was a panelist and agreed to be an ESB guest speaker (May 15th).
To view plenaries, panels, and sessions from this terrific conference, please go to . It may inspire you to attend their next event.