Big Media Astride Seismic Shift

BIG MEDIA ASTRIDE SEISMIC SHIFT
[SOURCE: Memphis Commercial Appeal, AUTHOR: David Williams]
The folks behind the Media Reform movement have chosen Memphis for their national conference starting today. So does this make us the epicenter of everything wrong with the modern media? "I think Memphis isn't worse. But it's no better," said Robert W. McChesney, founder of the Massachusetts-based nonprofit Free Press, whose National Conference for Media Reform includes as speakers the Rev. Jesse Jackson, actress Jane Fonda and FCC commissioner Jonathan Adelstein, and such sessions as "Inside Corporate Media: Can it Tell the Truth?" and "Winning on the Ground: Strategies for Stopping Big Media." "I think it's just part of the general picture in this country," McChesney said of Memphis, "which is of shrinking resources going to journalism, of increasing consolidation and homogenization of broadcasting." "The one thing all Americans agree upon is they think their local TV news is the worst in the country," said McChesney, a professor and author. "I swear I'll be in Memphis and people will tell me that. Wherever you go, people think that. And in a way, they're all right. Because it's so terrible everywhere."

http://www.commercialappeal.com/mca/local/article/0,2845,MCA_25340_52740...

See also:

* Welcome to our evil corporately owned blog
http://blogs.commercialappeal.com/blake/archives/2007/01/carolyn_cerbin....

* Listening to the critics
[Editorial] Our ears might be burning this weekend. The National Conference for Media Reform begins at the Memphis Cook Convention Center today. It's an event expected to draw 2,500 or more participants who are concerned about the media's future. It'll be our challenge to listen to what the conferees have to say, then determine if we can change our newspaper and online products to make them more useful and relevant. We'd like to thank those attending the conference in advance for their input.
http://www.commercialappeal.com/mca/editorials/article/0,2845,MCA_25348_...