Why Content Matters

When: Tuesday, December 6, 2005

Where: Capitol Building – room HC-8

Time: 12 noon-2pm (lunch will be served)

In a variety of ways, across the range of genres and outlets, the mass media convey impressions that whites occupy different moral universes from people of color. While the media do occasionally convey images of harmony and similarity, the impact of positive images may be swamped by the effects of the more common and vivid negative images, and by the effects of systematic omissions.

A distinguished and diverse panel of speakers will review the most recent data available on the way the media operate, the images they produce, and the influence they exert; and discuss viable solutions and policy recommendations. Confirmed speakers include:

Introduction:
Karen McGill Lawson, Executive Director, Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Education Fund

Moderator:
Mark Lloyd, Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress and member, LCCREF board

Panelists:

Robert M. Entman, Professor of Communication and Political Science, NC State University
Karen K. Narasaki, President and Executive Director, Asian American Justice Center
Kareem Shora, Director, Legal Department / Policy, American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee
Gloria Tristani, Managing Director, Office of Communication, United Church of Christ, Inc. and former FCC commissioner
Andrew Jay Schwartzman, President and CEO, Media Access Project

About the LCCREF Media and Communications Project

The Media and Communications Project was developed to help the national civil rights community play a central role in the policy debates shaping the nation’s media and communications landscape. At its core, communications policy is about equal opportunity and equal access to important local and national resources, such as education, health care, and economic equality.

For more information about LCCREF, visit www.civilrights.org

Please RSVP by December 5, 2005 by contacting Grace Allen at allen@civilrights.org.