The National Conference for Media Reform (NCMR) is the largest conference devoted to media technology and news in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. Sponsored and presented by the media reform organization Free Press, the conference brings together activists; students; policymakers; journalists; scholars; educators; media makers, and other concerned citizens who are working for better media, to share ideas and strategies, develop new skills, network and built momentum for the media reform movement. Previous conferences were held in Madison, Wisconsin; St. Louis; Memphis, Tennessee; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Boston, Massachusetts; and Denver, Colorado.

Past conferences

2003

The first NCMR was held in 2003 in

Madison, Wisconsin Madison is the county seat of Dane County and the capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census the population was 269,840, making it the second-largest city in Wisconsin by population, after Milwaukee, and the 80th-lar ...

, and was attended by more than 1700 people. Participants included

Robert W. McChesney Robert Waterman McChesney (; born December 22, 1952) is an American professor notable in the history and political economy of communications, and the role media play in democratic and capitalist societies. He is the Gutgsell Endowed Professor ...

Amy Goodman Amy Goodman (born April 13, 1957) is an American broadcast journalist, syndicated columnist, investigative reporter, and author. Her investigative journalism career includes coverage of the East Timor independence movement, Morocco's occupation ...

, Juan Gonzalez,

Naomi Klein Naomi A. Klein (born May 8, 1970) is a Canadian author, social activist, and filmmaker known for her political analyses, support of ecofeminism, organized labour, left-wing politics and criticism of corporate globalization, fascism, ecofascism ...

Sherrod Brown Sherrod Campbell Brown (; born November 9, 1952) is an American politician serving as the senior United States senator from Ohio, a seat which he has held since 2007. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the U.S. representative for Ohio's ...

Al Franken Alan Stuart Franken (born May 21, 1951) is an American comedian, politician, media personality, and author who served as a United States senator from Minnesota from 2009 to 2018. He gained fame as a writer and performer on the television comed ...

, Jeff Cohen, John Conyers, Jr., Charles Lewis, Bernie Sanders,

Russ Feingold Russell Dana Feingold ( ; born March 2, 1953) is an American lawyer and politician who served as a United States Senator from Wisconsin from 1993 to 2011. A member of the Democratic Party, he was its nominee in the 2016 election for the same U ...

Ralph Nader Ralph Nader (; born February 27, 1934) is an American political activist, author, lecturer, and attorney noted for his involvement in consumer protection, environmentalism, and government reform causes. The son of Lebanese immigrants to the U ...

Bill Moyers Bill Moyers (born Billy Don Moyers, June 5, 1934) is an American journalist and political commentator. Under the Johnson administration he served from 1965 to 1967 as the eleventh White House Press Secretary. He was a director of the Counci ...

, and Jesse Jackson.

2005

The 2005 NCMR was held from May 13-15 in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

at the Millennium Hotel. More than 2000 people attended. Booksigners included

David Bollier David Bollier is an American activist, writer, and blogger who is focused on the commons as a paradigm for re-imagining economics, politics, and culture. He is a director of the Reinventing the Commons Program at the Schumacher Center for a New E ...

Laura Flanders Laura Flanders (born 5 December 1961) is an English broadcast journalist living in the United States who presents the weekly, long-form interview show ''The Laura Flanders Show''. Flanders has described herself as a "lefty person". The brother ...

, Eesha Williams,

Victor Navasky Victor Saul Navasky (born July 5, 1932) is an American journalist, editor and academic. He is publisher emeritus of ''The Nation'' and George T. Delacorte Professor Emeritus of Professional Practice in Magazine Journalism at Columbia University. H ...

David Brock David Brock (born July 23, 1962) is an American liberal political consultant, author, and commentator who founded the media watchdog group Media Matters for America. He has been described by ''Time'' as "one of the most influential operatives ...

, Juan Gonzalez,

Sut Jhally Sut Jhally (b. 1955) is a professor of communication at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, whose work focuses on cultural studies, advertising, media, and consumption. He is the producer of over 40 documentaries on media literacy topics a ...

, John Nichols,

Bob Hackett Bob Hackett (born August 3, 1949) is a Republican member of the Ohio Senate, representing the 10th district since 2016. Career Hackett, a graduate of Columbia University where he played on the Columbia Lions football team, served two terms as a ...

, Kembrew McLeod,

Jerry Mander Jerry Irwin Mander (born May 1, 1936) is an American activist and author, best known for his 1978 book, ''Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television''. In a more recent book, ''The Capitalism Papers'', Mander argues against capitalism as a ...

Siva Vaidhyanathan Siva Vaidhyanathan (born 1966) is a cultural historian and media scholar, and the Robertson professor of Media Studies at the University of Virginia. Vaidhyanathan is a permanent columnist at The Guardian and Slate; he is also a frequent contrib ...

, Peter Grant,

Patti Smith Patricia Lee Smith (born December 30, 1946) is an American singer, songwriter, poet, painter and author who became an influential component of the New York City punk rock movement with her 1975 debut album ''Horses''. Called the "punk poet ...

, and

Jim Hightower James Allen Hightower (born January 11, 1943) is an American syndicated columnist, progressive political activist, and author. From 1983 to 1991 he served as the elected commissioner of the Texas Department of Agriculture. He publishes a monthl ...

. Over 100 presenters were featured, including

, Bill Fletcher Jr.,

Chellie Pingree Chellie Marie Pingree ( ; ''née'' Johnson; born April 2, 1955) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for since 2009. A member of the Democratic Party, her district includes most of the southern part of the state, inclu ...

, Jennifer Pozner,

Robert Greenwald Robert Greenwald (born August 28, 1945) is an American filmmaker, and the founder of Brave New Films, a nonprofit film and advocacy organization whose work is distributed for free in concert with nonprofit partners and movements in order to educ ...

Arianna Huffington Arianna Stassinopoulos Huffington (née Ariadnē-Anna Stasinopoúlou, el, Αριάδνη-Άννα Στασινοπούλου ; born July 15, 1950) is a Greek-American author, syndicated columnist and businesswoman. She is a co-founder of '' Th ...

Janine Jackson Janine Jackson (born January 30, 1965 in Wilmington, Delaware) is the program director of FAIR (Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting), and the host and producer of FAIR's syndicated radio show '' CounterSpin''—a weekly program of media criticism ...

, George Lakoff,

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdicti ...

(FCC) Commissioners

Jonathan Adelstein Jonathan Steven Adelstein is an American political appointee and trade association president. He was nominated to posts by Republican President George W. Bush and Democratic President Barack Obama, serving as a Commissioner of the Federal Commu ...

and Michael Copps,

National Organization for Women The National Organization for Women (NOW) is an American feminist organization. Founded in 1966, it is legally a 501(c)(4) social welfare organization. The organization consists of 550 chapters in all 50 U.S. states and in Washington, D.C. It ...

President Kim Gandy, Representatives

Maurice Hinchey Maurice Dunlea Hinchey (October 27, 1938 – November 22, 2017) was an American politician who served as a U.S. Representative from New York and was a member of the Democratic Party. He retired at the end of his term in January 2013 after 20 ...

(D-N.Y.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.),

Jan Schakowsky Janice Schakowsky ( ; née Danoff; born May 26, 1944) is an American politician who has served as the U.S. representative from since 1999. She is a member of the Democratic Party. The district is anchored in Chicago's North Side, including ...

(D-Ill.) and

Diane Watson Diane Edith Watson (born November 12, 1933) is a former American politician who served as US Representative for , serving from 2003 until 2011, after first being elected in the 32nd District in a 2001 special election. She is a member of the Dem ...

(D-Calif.)

2007

The 2007 NCMR was held in January in

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...

. Notable speakers included Bill Moyers; actors and activists Jane Fonda, Geena Davis, and Danny Glover; civil rights leaders

Van Jones Anthony Kapel "Van" Jones (born September 20, 1968) is an American news and political commentator, author, and lawyer. He is the co-founder of several non-profit organizations, a three-time ''New York Times'' bestselling author, a CNN host and c ...

and Rev. Jesse Jackson; and policymakers Rep.

Ed Markey Edward John Markey (born July 11, 1946) is an American lawyer, politician, and former Army reservist who has served as the junior United States senator from Massachusetts since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the U.S. representa ...

, Sen. Bernie Sanders and FCC Commissioners Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein. About 3,000 people attended, according to the daily newspaper in Memphis.http://www.commercialappeal.com/videos/detail/media-reform-conference/

2008

The 2008 NCMR was held on June 6–8 at the

Minneapolis Convention Center The Minneapolis Convention Center is a large convention center located in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota that opened in 1990. It is located one block away from Nicollet Mall Nicollet Mall is a twelve-block portion of Nicollet Avenue runni ...

, Minneapolis, Minnesota.. The conference program's five themes were: media policy; media reform activism and movement building; journalism and independent media; civil rights-social justice and media; and media and democracy: the next frontier.

2011

The 2011 NCMR was held in Boston, Massachusetts. The fifth NCMR was held on April 8–10, 2011, at the Seaport World Trade Center in Boston. The event featured roughly 300 speakers and performers and an estimated 2,500 attendees. Presenters included

, Juan Gonzalez,

Glenn Greenwald Glenn Edward Greenwald (born March 6, 1967) is an American journalist, author and lawyer. In 2014, he cofounded ''The Intercept'', of which he was an editor until he resigned in October 2020. Greenwald subsequently started publishing on Substac ...

, Nancy Pelosi, Bernie Sanders,

Bob Edgar Robert William "Bob" Edgar (May 29, 1943 – April 23, 2013) was an American politician and administrator from Pennsylvania, and a member of the Democratic Party. He served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1975 to 1 ...

David Shuster David Martin Shuster (born July 22, 1967) is an American television journalist and talk radio host. He most recently served as principal anchor and managing editor for i24 News, previously serving as an anchor for MSNBC and worked for Fox News, ...

Carole Simpson Carole Simpson (born December 7, 1940) is an American broadcast journalist, news anchor, and author. She is the first African-American woman to anchor a major United States network newscast. Education and career Simpson, a graduate of the Un ...

Katrina Vanden Heuvel Katrina vanden Heuvel (; born October 7, 1959) is an American editor and publisher. She is the publisher, part-owner, and former editor of the progressive magazine ''The Nation''. She was the magazine's editor from 1995 to 2019, when she was s ...

and Jeff Cohen.

2013

The 2013 NCMR was held in Denver, Colorado. Thousands of people attended. Presenters included

, and Jeff Cohen.

Notes

Note 4: http://www.newsguild.org/index.php?ID=5535

External links

Freepress.net
– Official Website (Home page) of the Free Press, sponsor and presenter of the NCMR.
The National Conference for Media Reform (NCMR)
– Official Website (Home page), sponsored, presented, and hosted by the Free Press. {{DEFAULTSORT:National Conference For Media Reform American journalism organizations Criticism of journalism

Past conferences

2003

2005

2007

2008

2011

2013

See also

Notes

External links