Mainstreaming the Media Movement

[reprehensor]

http://alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=17134

The University of Wisconsin has a long history as a center of dissident culture and alternative perspectives. In the '50s it was an oasis of free thought in a state that sent Joe McCarthy to the Senate. In the '60s, new left intellectuals published "Studies on the Left" and mounted some of the era's largest anti-war protests.


So it not surprising that a major media reform congress will be hosted at the university's Madison campus this weekend. The timing could not be better; the demand for media reform has risen to a level never before seen in American public discourse.


0Few of us in the media reform movement foresaw that ownership issues would touch such a deep nerve or galvanize such a widespread response. The popular outcry against a proposed Federal Communications Commission rule change mobilized nearly three million Americans opposed to the further dismantling of media ownership rules. Capitol Hill observers say this issue has been the second most discussed item by constituents in 2003, trailing only the war on Iraq.


This is the new phase of the popular campaign for media reform, and a sign that the historical concerns of those attending this weekend's conference have crossed political divides to capture the interest of many. The challenge now before those in Madison is how to reach this politically diverse population and further engage them in the reform movement.