Bill Moyers

Held the weekend before Martin Luther King Day in Memphis, the city where Dr. King?s life was ended by an assassin?s bullet, the underlying theme of the third National Conference on Media Reform harkened to the struggles of the Civil Rights Era. Conference speakers and workshops focused on media justice and the plight of minorities of race, of gender, of economic class, and of media access.

Bill Moyers

Keynote speaker Bill Moyers (video) evoked the tyranny of the old plantation system to speak about ?an ownership class that arranged the world for its own benefit? and to argue that the plantation mentality has ?corrupted our course as a nation.? And just as our ancestors fought a civil war to enforce the rights of all citizens, Mr. Moyers believes that our country is once again facing a conflict between human rights and the property rights of the moneyed class.

And, of course, at a media reform conference, Mr. Moyers addressed what he called a ?pillar of American democracy, an independent press,? which he characterized as under attack. Mr. Moyers explained that as media ownership becomes more concentrated in the hands of fewer conglomerates, independent information sources shrink and news becomes what media owners want disseminated instead of being an accurate reflection of the diversity of issues and viewpoints in the broader population. And as unaccountable corporations dictate what news is covered, they also, and perhaps more importantly, determine what people do not see or hear. Mr. Moyers reminded his listeners that ?free speech is not corporate speech. That news is not just what officials tell us.?

Mr. Moyers left attendees with a couple calls to arms. He shared what he called his fantasy of all the attendees persuading their public television stations to air Democracy Now!, the current affairs TV and radio show hosted and produced by award-winning journalist Amy Goodman. Emphasizing the importance of what he called net equality instead of net neutrality, Mr. Moyers reminded his audience that the Internet enables every citizen to become a modern-day Tom Paine and stressed that the information superhighway must remain open and available, without fast lanes for those who can afford to pay and slower lanes for everyday citizen/journalists. Mr. Moyers urged listeners to be vigilant and unflagging in their efforts to preserve and expand Internet access for all so that the Internet doesn?t become ?just like cable television where the provider decides what you see and what you pay.?

Possibly the best news Mr. Moyers shared is that, starting in April, he?ll be back on PBS as the host of a new weekly show, Bill Moyers? Journal.

Reverend Jesse Jackson

Rev. Jesse Jackson spoke directly about his firsthand experiences marching and organizing with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and about Dr. King?s legacy. He made the point that ?in romanticizing Dr. King?s journey, we distort history.? Now recognized as a modern American hero, Dr. King was a controversial figure in his day, ?perhaps America?s most hated man,? for speaking out not just for civil rights for African-Americans, but against the war in Vietnam, and for a more equitable tax system.

The mainstream media of today is even more in thrall to the issues of importance to white men. Rev. Jackson asked, ?When was the last time a Sunday news show featured the leader of the Congressional Black Caucus, the leader of NOW (the National Organization for Women), the leader of a Latino organization?? Rev. Jackson pointed out that despite his own extensive experience in the Middle East, he wasn?t called to comment on the Iraq Study Group?s findings, relegated instead to passing judgment on racist comments by the celebrity bigot of the day.

Rev. Jackson encouraged his audience and congressional leaders to work toward ensuring more access to more media for more people.

Year of the Women?Jane Fonda and Geena Davis

Two of the closing speakers were notable women. Jane Fonda, actor and activist, focused on the power of the media. She shared her sense of betrayal by the mainstream media ?whose priorities seem out of step with their responsibilities.? In her eyes, media should strengthen democracy instead of bolstering the government and enrich public discourse rather than corporate profits.

Geena Davis speaks at the 2007 National Conference on Media Reform (Photo courtesy of freepress.net)

Ms. Fonda?s idea of media reform is creating a powerful media that can speak for the powerless. ?A truly powerful media,? Ms. Fonda said, ?is one that can stop a war, not start one.?

Ms. Fonda also addressed the gender gap in media, pointing out that media representatives at all levels are not only overwhelmingly white but also overwhelmingly male. And, as Ms. Fonda said, ?You can?t tell the whole story when you leave out half the population.? She, along with Gloria Steinem and Robin Morgan created the Women?s Media Center (www.womensmediacenter.com) to make women more visible and more powerful. She pushed for more balanced representation for the good of all citizens, and noted, ?The opposite of patriarchy is not matriarchy, but democracy.?

Actor Geena Davis?s interest in the representation of women in the media came alive when she had a daughter and noticed the lack of meaningful female characters on TV. Ms. Davis recalled that in her own childhood, she played The Rifleman while her girlfriend played her son, Mark. Ms. Davis went through a list of female cartoon characters from her childhood, noting that female characters, when they existed at all, were marginalized, ineffectual, or one-dimensional. In the Looney Tunes world of cartoon characters, only Tweety?s owner, Granny, is female, and all the interesting things happen when she steps out of the picture.

A picture of Judy Jetson, showing her waist the same size as her neck, added a ?Too Thin?? caption.

Partnering with Dads & Daughters (www.dadsanddaughters.org), an organization that believes that everyone benefits when fathers and stepfathers ?help transform the pervasive cultural messages that devalue girls and women,? Ms. Davis?s See Jane organization (www.seejane.org) commissioned a study of the 101 top-grossing G-rated movies released from 1990 through 2004. Analyses are still being conducted, but one of the first studies released showed that counting speaking roles, groups, and narrators, these movies have a three to one ratio of male to female characters.

Ms. Davis made the point that boys as well as girls, fathers as well as daughters, are hurt when girls and women are underrepresented and misrepresented. ?We know that kids learn their value by seeing themselves reflected in the culture,? she pointed out. And an unrealistic picture of the number and worth of girls and women leaves everyone with a skewed and unworkable concept of the world. ?And the important thing for us is that we feel this is just as damaging for boys ? to take into their future relationships.? The See Jane organization sells a T-shirt designed by Ms. Davis that shows the planet with the slogan, ?Women. We?ll settle for half,? highlighting the fact that a little more than half the world population is female and entitled to a fair share of attention and resources.

Other speakers included Congressional Representatives Ed Markey and Dennis Kucinich and Senator Bernie Sanders, Federal Communications Commissioners Jonathon Adelstein and Michael Copps, and a host of organization heads and activists. Media reform group Free Press, sponsor of the conference, has video, audio, and text highlights on their website at www.freepress.net.

Kathleen Dobie is a local freelance editor and activist, who is paying attention and outraged.