The stars--or satellites--are aligned for the explosion of a national media democracy movement. Confronting dramatic consolidations of corporate media ownership and power, pro-business court rulings, and looming threats of further deregulation from an FCC Chair who openly mocks public interest standards, activist groups across the country are finding common languages of resistance. In the wake of the successes of the Pacifica struggle, the fight for Low Power FM (LPFM) radio, and the "Angels of the Public Interest" protests against the FCC in Washington D.C. this spring, media democracy activists have several opportunities this year to join struggles against the corporatization of our media systems, our airwaves, and our internet.

The landmark anti-NAB protests of 2000 in San Francisco served as a catalyst for the movement to save LPFM--then under attack from the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) and National Public Radio (NPR). (See Transistor Triangle, MediaFile, September, 2000.) This year, when the NAB holds its annual radio conference in Seattle, media activists hope to repeat history and continue the development of a broad-based, cooperative, and focused movement for media democracy.

NAB: The WTO of Broadcasting

One of the most powerful lobbies in the country, the NAB represents the owners and management of corporate media and works tirelessly to keep control of the airwaves away from the public and firmly in the hands of big business. The NAB has fiercely opposed LPFM licensing for community radio stations, fought to abolish public service requirements for broadcasters, and pressured Congress against enacting campaign finance reform measures, which would have granted free airtime to rich and poor candidates alike.

The NAB has also pushed for ownership deregulation in the broadcast industry. American radio is now more consolidated than ever before, with the cartoonishly villainous Clear Channel owning over 2500 stations in the U.S. alone. When the NAB meets again this year at the Washington State Convention Center in downtown Seattle--the infamous site of the 1999 World Trade Organization (WTO) meetings--they will be greeted once more by citizen's groups demanding more public access to the airwaves.

The keynote speaker this year is Bill O'Reilly, conservative host of the Fox cable program, "The O'Reilly Factor." Between that and the conference theme, "Radio Has Power," activists should have ample inspiration for creative responses.

The Cascadia Media Alliance

Planning for the counter-NAB events is being coordinated by the Cascadia Media Alliance (CMA), a recently-formed group linking journalists, media activists, and political organizers from the Seattle Independent Media Center (IMC), radio.indymedia.org, microradio.net, Studio X, RiseUp Productions, and regional community radio stations. Other interested groups include the Media Alliance (MA), Prometheus Radio Project, Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting (FAIR), Media Channel, Women in Media & News (WIMN), and the Center for Digital Democracy.

The Seattle NAB Protest and Community Media Conference

The CMA is currently focused on developing an infrastructure for the conference--lining up venues for major speakers and conference workshops and seeking funding from private and foundation sources. It is also eagerly soliciting input from a variety of community organizations to questions, such as: What makes media issues relevant to different communities? What are the major targets for focused political campaigns?

So far, plans for a Community Media Conference have coalesced around three major themes:

Networking and Movement Building Amongst Media Makers

We will be inviting alternative media makers from the West Coast (including British Columbia and California) and beyond to engage in some regional media networking. Plans for the Regional Radio Summit include workshops in skill-sharing, mentoring, and content collaboration. The issues of media consolidation and convergence are broad and overlapping. Our hope is that media activists from all fronts (print, cable, broadband, wireless, and radio) will have opportunities to meet, compare notes, share ideas, and organize.

Public Education and Broad-based Movement Building

Our efforts along these lines are multi-fold, and some are more developed than others. We are currently engaged in outreach--contacting and building relationships with a number of community groups and organizations--to find out their level of interest in a media democracy event and in media policy in general. Our first outreach effort was organized around David Barsamian's visit on the weekend of April 20 this year. The Seattle IMC asked Barsamian to host an "Independent Media Encounter" for representatives from a variety of community-based and activist newspapers, broadcast facilities, and other media to explore shared issues. This was followed by an exciting open mike discussion with Dee Dee Halleck, Jeff Chester, Dirk Koning, and others during the "Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility Conference." A similar "media mixer" is scheduled for mid-June with community groups and alternative media makers to discuss the upcoming WTO event and media democracy issues as they arise from local communities.

At the national level, CMA has begun producing a series of brief "media and democracy" radio features to be played daily on community and college radio stations around the country in August and September. Each of the spots will feature a noted progressive activist, media critic, performing artist, or theorist addressing a particular topic. We currently have Howard Zinn, Jim Hightower, Starhawk, Anuradha Mittal, and Helen Caldicott lined up but need the continued support of writers and producers to keep the work going.

Sept. 9 -14: Protest Rally and Education Fair

September is assuredly the best time of year for an outdoor event in Seattle. We have secured a three-day permit for the large outdoor plaza directly outside the Convention Center where the NAB will be holding its event. We can have a riser with bands performing and some very talented political puppeteers in the area have expressed interest in joining us. We would also like to have some "how to" workshops, such as "How to Build a Transmitter."

Getting Involved

For more information about the September 2002 NAB protests and the Community Media Conference, visit our newly launched website, www.reclaimthemedia.org. The site is designed to serve as a resource shared by activists working on a variety of media democracy issues. Media activists are encouraged to post articles to the site and to contact us regarding planning opportunities for the September activities. Those interested are welcome to join our planning email list, cascadia@lists.riseup.net. Contact the CMA at cma@riseup.net, or contact us individually at jonathan@indymedia.org, or susan@reclaimthemedia.org. See you in Seattle!

Susan Gleason and Jonathan Lawson are members of the Cascadia Media Alliance.