A National Conference for Media Reform is coming to Memphis in January, and I just noticed a scholarship deadline coming up sooner -- Nov. 6.

Along with scholarships, volunteer opportunities and lower registration fees for students, the conference organizers also are offering discounts to bloggers who promise to blog from the event. The deadline for press and blogger credential requests is Jan. 8, just a week before the event.

Bill Moyers and Ben Bagdikian head the list of what the organizers call "activists, media makers, educators, journalists, policymakers and concerned citizens... gathering in Memphis this January to mobilize for better media."

Well, those two head my list anyway. (Bagdikian's book "The Media Monopoly" was scary in its first edition in 1983; now it's in its seventh, and things haven't exactly improved.) Other folks might start the list with Jane Fonda, Jesse Jackson or Phil Donahue, or maybe FCC commissioners Jonathan Adelstein and Michael Copps.

The website says the conference is for "anyone who is concerned about the state of our media and committed to working for change." I hope media critics from the conservative end of the political spectrum will be represented.

"Preaching to the choir" isn't the strongest communication model. The topics on the agenda sound like issues for everyone. Here are the main headings:

• Media Literacy, Critique & Accountability
• Independent & Noncommercial Media
• Civil Rights, Social Justice & Media
• Media Reform Activism

1:32:44 PM  #