The last national conference on media reform was in 2013.

Many of you are well aware of the situation as described in this video and have likely lived through  it. Some of you were media activists during the time frame being discussed.  You may have even taken action against your local Clear Channel station – or your local Sinclair TV station.

BFIA has been posting about media issues since our early days. We have seen a robust media reform movement come and go in just a few short years.  Now we’re all in a position of having to say things like, “wind turbines don’t cause cancer” and “vaccines will not alter your DNA” and “God can still hear your prayer through your mask.”

You might also ask, why does Iowa have fourteen right wing commercial talk radio stations with overlapping, repetitive content that is nothing but hate speech, lies and distortions?

Media reform activism used to be a real thing.  And it wasn’t that long ago. Why did it die?

At what was to be the last national conference on media reform in 2013, one of the organizers, Craig Aaron of FreePress said this:

“Over the past decade, we’ve seen remarkable growth in, awareness of and activism around media and technology issues,” Aaron said. “Millions have demanded a say in who owns the media, what kind of information their communities need, and what the future of the Internet should look like. As we celebrate those victories, we’ll also strategize and mobilize for the challenges in Washington, around the country, and across the world.”

BFIA was at the Memphis conference in 2007. Here is a partial list of famous speakers with household names:   Bill Moyers, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Jane Fonda, FCC Commissioners Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein, Geena Davis, Amy Goodman, Phil Donahue – and that was just one year. Other years included Bernie Sanders, Nancy Pelosi, Danny Glover, Van Jones, Al Franken, Patti Smith, Naomi Klein, and on and on.

What happened??

If anyone has the answer, kindly put it in the comments.

Sadly, you can’t always fix things that get broken. We hope that isn’t true in this instance.