Media REFORM Conference, Memphis, Tenn. attracts 2 of 5 FCC Commissioners....

The MEDIA WHORES suck up ONE-HALF-TRILLION Dollars from American consumers for the FREE USE of PUBLIC AIRWAVES.

They also have a DEFACTO MONOPOLY over COMMUNICATIONS in American elections: candidates MUST fork over MILLIONS OF DOLLARS to the whore Corporate media, to reach American viewers/consumers/voters in each and every election cycle.

Of course, a huge portion of responsibility for this horrific fact rests with American consumers/viewers/voters themselves: IF they were subjected to the rock-bottom Right-Wing "ideal" - $ZERO minimum wages: NO social security net; NO government intervention no matter how parasitic, corrupt, and predatory industrial monopolists were - we would have a situation we have all seen before (in history books if not in our own memories), THE GREAT DEPRESSION, and people would PAY ATTENTION TO WHAT THEIR GOVERNMENT is doing for them, and DEMAND that the government do something for them.

Instead, 300 million of us Americans have the luxury of eating meat 3 or more times a day if we choose to; we expect to have running electricity 24 hours a day; we EXPECT the government to protect our savings accounts; and we expect the government to provide an economic system whereby our children can expect employment for life and education at least through high school graduation.

Rethuglicans would LOVE to destroy ALL the above, and in the case of PENSIONS at ENRON, World-Com, and other corporations, Right-Wing politicians have pretended that it was INEVITABLE that thousands of workers, pensioners, and investors lost their fortunes due to pathetic regulatory oversight of those parasitic executives.

THAT AMERICAN CORPORATE MEDIA has MONOPOLY control over the US airwaves, and the democratic election process, is the result of the DISORGANIZATION and ego-driven "herding cats" nature of the "Democractic/Progressive/Left," and as well that millions of American voters still, to this day, despise the Democratic agenda that brought many of them into the American lifestlye of the late 20th century that they take_for_granted.

(That media corporations push policies on American voters that put billions of PUBLIC taxpayer dollars into corporate profits, and give million-dollar "campaign-contribution" SLUSH-FUND KICKBACKS to BRIBERY/EXTORTION SPECIALIST LOBBYISTS and legislators like Jack Abramoff, Duke Cunningham, Bob Ney, and Tom DeLay, is a given.)
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<< Two of the five FCC commissioners have enthusiastically attended the last two Media Reform conferences: Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein. (In fact, they are sitting next to BuzzFlash as newly-elected Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders is speaking.) They are as energized as the Eveready battery bunny about bringing media ownership back to America’s citizens.

As Copps pointed out in remarks on Friday, Big Media PULLS IN A HALF a TRILLION DOLLARS FOR FREE USE OF THE PUBLIC AIRWAVES. That is CORPORATE WELFARE at a GARGANTUAN LEVEL.

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BuzzFlash Thoughts from the Media Reform Conference in Memphis -- January 12-14
A BuzzFlash News Analysis
Sat, 01/13/2007
http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/analysis/171

Having attended the three Media Reform conferences sponsored by FreePress.net over the last few years, BuzzFlash is profoundly optimistic that the harmful and insidious "news [propaganda] frame" created by the corporate media may be countered by a grassroots movement of activists.

From the first Media Reform conference in Madison, Wisconsin, a few years back to this year’s conference in Memphis (January 12-14), attendance has tripled to well more than 3,000 activists.

Although media reform is essential to restoring an active, vital grassroots democracy to the United States, it is often a topic that causes even BuzzFlash readers to bypass it because of two reasons. One is that the power Big Media maintains through billions of dollars of consolidated ownership and profits appears too insurmountable to counteract to many progressives.

The second issue is that many of the regulatory and legislative issues that are necessary to rein in an entertainment/propaganda industry that is de facto aligned with the Republican government and the status quo…many of these regulatory and legislative issues appear arcane and difficult to understand.

But the growing numbers of activists, legislators, regulators, celebrities, and new media stars joining the media reform movement indicate that there is a groundswell that is not going to be dissuaded by these obstacles.

The attendees here in Memphis are geared up for battle. They are not just energized; they are growing increasingly savvy about how to strategically take on Big Media and start winning.

Two of the five FCC commissioners have enthusiastically attended the last two Media Reform conferences: Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein. (In fact, they are sitting next to BuzzFlash as newly-elected Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders is speaking.) They are as energized as the Eveready battery bunny about bringing media ownership back to America’s citizens.

As Copps pointed out in remarks on Friday, Big Media pulls in a half a trillion dollars for the free use of the public airwaves. That is corporate welfare at a gargantuan level.

And, in return we get Brittney Spears, kidnapped white blondes in Aruba, and unfiltered White House propaganda.

That is government-sanctioned robbery of the public commons. For profiteering use of our airwaves, we receive garbage tossed back in our faces.

The vast crowd at the Media Reform conference in Memphis this year indicates that there is a growing rumbling spreading from the Atlantic to the Pacific – and this is not just a Northeastern urban movement. In rural, suburban and urban areas, citizens are as Mad as Hell and not going to take it anymore.

The media should be accountable to the American people, and we want it back. It is a dramatic development that this may no longer be a dream – and it is clearly evident this week in Tennessee.