WHOSE MEDIA IS IT? A MEDIA ISSUES, ACTIVISM, AND POLICY SYMPOSIUM

This Symposium will explore links among local media issues, corporate interests, and Washington policy-making.

All events take place in
Foster Auditorium ~ 101 Pattee Library

Free and Open to the Public

We hear talk about "Net Neutrality," public service broadcasting, partisan bias, corporate control of the media, and other buzzwords in discussions of the ideal versus real in the United States media, but what is really at stake here? What is a "free press" and do we have it? What will it take to create mass media as a truly vibrant force in local communities? Ben Scott, policy director for Free Pressin Washington, DC, will join State College Mayor Bill Welch, local media activists, and leading media and telecomm scholars from Penn State University in two days of events to discuss and debate the terms of these questions, and seek to connect local media activism and public policy action.

Some of these lectures are available for online viewing. Please click the corresponding"MediaSite" icons to access the recordings. (You must have Windows Media Player and Internet Explorer 5.5 or higher to view presentations.)

Schedule of Events

Monday, October 16
4:00–5:30 p.m.

Roundtable Discussion: "Internet, Access, Education, Public Policy"

• Ben Scott, Policy Director of Free Press
• Jeff Kuhns, Senior Director of Consulting & SPT services, Information Technology, Penn State University
• Patrick Parsons, Professor of Telecommunications, Penn State University
• Chris Putala, Executive VP for Public Policy, Earthlink
• Richard Taylor, Professor of Telecommunications, Penn State University
• Moderated by C. Michael Elavsky, Assistant Professor, Media Studies, Penn State University

Monday, October 16
7:00 p.m.

Public Lecture by Ben Scott of Free Press: "Our Media, Not Theirs: Putting Congress to Work on the Problem of the Media"

Respondents:

• Bill Welch, Mayor of State College
• Jorge Schement, Professor of Telecommunications, Penn State University
• Russell Frank, Professor of Journalism, Penn State University

Tuesday, October 17
3:00–5:00 p.m.

Media Activism Workshop: "The Media Affects You; Start Affecting It (How to get involved—the nuts and bolts overview of doing media activism)"

• Elizabeth Goreham, State College Borough Council Member
• Nancy Kranich, Former president of the ALA/Local activist
• Cynthia Hahn, C-NET Executive Director
• Suzanne Erem, Managing Editor, Voices
• Beth McConnell, Director, Pennsylvania Public Interest Research Group
• Moderated by Ben Scott of Free Press

Suggested Readings

from www.freepress.net (Adobe Acrobat file will open in a new window)

• "Out of the Picture: Minority and Female TV Station Ownership in the United States"
• "The Politics and Policy of Media Ownership," by Ben Scott
• "The Neural Internet: An Information Architecture for Open Societies," by Daniel J. Weitzner

Ben Scott and other participants in the symposium will be available for interviews before, during, or after the event. For more information, contact C. Michael Elavsky at cme16@psu.edu.

Free Press is a national nonpartisan organization working to increase informed public participation in crucial media policy debates, and to generate policies that will produce a more competitive and public interest-oriented media system with a strong nonprofit and noncommercial sector. For more information about Free Press visit www.freepress.net.

Sponsors: Penn State College of Communications; Don Davis Program in Communications Ethics; Rock Ethics Institute; and Free Press