free press

Last week, a huge National Conference for Media Reform was held St. Louis. Danny Schechter, "blogger-in chief" of the amazing MediaChannel, filed this report, called "Why We Need A Media and Democracy Act".

My idea: A Media and Democracy Act to package proposals for an anti-trust program to break up media monopolies; a funding strategy for public broadcasting and the independent producing community (perhaps financed with a tax on advertising); reinstatement of an updated fairness doctrine; free broadcasts for political debate across the spectrum; limits on advertising and monitoring for honesty and accuracy; guarantees for media freedom in the public interest; media literacy education in our schools; provisions for free wireless; media training and access centers; more support for media arts, etc.

This list is endless. No one group has the clout to put its priorities on the agenda without support from others, so why not make everyone a stakeholder in the process? Politics is the art of compromise. That's why a Media and Democracy Act that incorporates all these concerns can have appeal across the partisan divides of politics as well as the political divides within the media and democracy movement.

Read his whole argument, it's worth your time. Democracy can't be restored in the United States without media reform, and it has to start somewhere.

Schechter also links to Bill Moyers's speech on the closing day of the conference: "Take Back Public Broadcasting". If you haven't heard it yet, read it here.