There wasn’t a hotel vacancy to be found in downtown Memphis last weekend as thousands of print journalists, radio producers, independent filmmakers, bloggers, policy makers, movers and shakers, and everyday folks from across the country gathered for the third annual National Conference for Media Reform. Sponsored by the Northampton, Mass.-based nonprofit Free Press, registration had reached 2,500 two days before the conference started on Jan. 12. Final figures were not available at press time, but estimates over the weekend reached 4,000.

The conference, held in Madison, Wis., in 2003 and St. Louis in 2005, is geared toward anyone concerned about the state of the media—print, radio, film, Internet, you name it—who is committed to working for change. The goal is to energize attendees, presenting ideas and strategies for achieving better media and connecting people with thousands of media reformers from across the nation.

Legendary journalist Bill Moyers opened the conference with an hour-long session on Friday. A former White House aide and press secretary for President Lyndon B. Johnson, as well as a longtime broadcaster for CBS and PBS, Moyers has received more than 30 Emmy awards and dozens of other major television journalism prizes.

In a surprise visit to the conference, congressman and presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) announced his chairmanship of a newly created congressional subcommittee on media reform, to be conducted under the purview of the Committee on Government Reform. His appointment is expected to be formally announced later this week. Highlights of his campaign for media reform are: requiring free broadcast time for political candidates; strengthening the ban on media cross-ownership; creating public media outlets controlled by community boards; and withdrawing from the World Trade Organization on the basis that “media companies are currently lobbying the WTO for the creation of trade sanctions against countries that fund public broadcasting, limit foreign ownership of media, or establish standards for local content.”

Kucinich is reportedly planning a New Hampshire appearance in early February. Other noted speakers at this year’s conference included civil rights, religious and political figure Rev. Jesse Jackson; television host Phil Donahue; FCC Commissioners Jonathan Adelstein and Michael Copps; Rev. Lennox Yearwood of Hip-Hop Caucus; and Danny Glover, who emceed Saturday night’s Memphis Music Showcase Concert & Rally, which featured Rev. Al Green’s Gospel Choir and the North Mississippi Allstars/Burnside Exploration. Also presenting were Amy Goodman, host of the daily national radio and television news program “Democracy Now!”; actress Geena Davis; and actress Jane Fonda, who delivered the closing discussion with Van Jones, founder of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights.

The conference offered 70 workshops, with specific tracks in media policy; media literacy and critique; independent media; media, civil rights and social justice; and media activism. Three policy roundtables were held—small groups in which participants conversed directly with public officials: Congressman Maurice Hinchey (D-N.Y.), Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Congressman Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.), Congressman Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and FCC Commissioners Adelstein and Copps. On Friday, evening, participants split into 14 regional caucuses, designed to help participants network with others from their areas and learn about the current media policy and media activism initiatives where they live.

Founded in 2002, the mission of Free Press is to increase informed public participation in crucial media policy debates, and to generate policies that will produce a more competitive and public interest-oriented media system with a strong nonprofit and noncommercial sector.

For more information or to download free video of main events and audio of workshops, visit www.freepress.net. 

Take Action 
The following is a partial listing of gropus whose core missions and goals fall within the realm of media reform. Source: www.freepress.net. 

Action Coalition for Media Education (ACME)
Albuquerque, N.M.
www.acmecoalition.org

Adbusters
Vancouver, BC, Canada
www.adbusters.org

Alliance for Community Media
Washington, D.C.
www.alliancecm.org

Alliance for a Media Literate America
Denver, Colo.
www.amlainfo.org

The Benton Foundation
Washington, D.C.
www.benton.org

Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood
Boston, Mass.
www.commercialexploitation.com

Center for International Media Action
www.mediaactioncenter.org

Center for Media Literacy
Santa Monica, Calif.
www.medialit.org

Citizens for Media Literacy
Asheville, N.C.
www.main.nc.us/cml

Code Pink
Venice, Calif.
www.codepink4peace.org

Common Cause
Washington, D.C.
www.commoncause.org

Communications Workers of America
Washington, D.C.
www.cwa-union.org

Downhill Battle
Worcester, Mass.
www.downhillbattle.org

Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting
New York, N.Y.
www.fair.org

Free Press
www.freepress.net
www.stopbigmedia.com

Future of Music Coalition
Washington, D.C.
www.futureofmusic.org

Independent Press Association
San Francisco, Calif.
www.indypress.org

International Network for Cultural Diversity
Ottowa, Canada
www.incd.net
Internet Governance Project
Syracuse, N.Y.
www.internetgovernance.org

Know Media
N. Brattleboro, Vt.
www.knowmedia.org

Media Access Project
Washington, D.C.
www.mediaaccess.org

Media Alliance
Oakland, Calif.
www.media-alliance.org

Media Education Foundation
Northampton, Mass.
www.mediaed.org

National Writers Union
New York, N.Y.
www.nwu.org

Parents Television Council
Los Angeles, Calif.
www.parentstv.org

Project Censored
Sonoma State University, Rohnert Park, Calif.
www.projectcensored.org

Prometheus Radio Project
Philadelphia, Pa.
www.prometheusradio.org

Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
Arlington, Va.
www.rcfp.org
   
Reporters Without Borders
Paris, France
www.rsf.org
   
Scenic America
Washington, D.C.
www.scenic.org

Video Activist Network
San Francisco, Calif.
www.videoactivism.org

We Interrupt This Message
San Francisco, Calif.
www.interrupt.org

Webcaster Alliance
Las Vegas, Nev.
www.webcasteralliance.com

Writers Guild of America, East
New York, N.Y.
www.wgaeast.org

Youth Media Council
Oakland, Calif.
www.youthmediacouncil.org