The Media Justice Leadership Institute and Policy Advocacy Day: Building and Strengthening the Movement for Media Justice

On December 10, 2009, the Center for Media Justice—and its signature project, the Media Action Grassroots Network—brought together nearly 20 media justice advocates for our first National Policy Advocacy Day. Collectively, our contingent represented eight regions across the country and 14 different community-based organizations working at the intersections of social and economic justice and media policy.

Civil Rights, Self-Representation, and the Fight for Open and Neutral Online Networks

Two weeks ago, the Center for Media Justice brought together a coalition of national media groups working on racial justice issues to discuss the issue of open and neutral online networks and the network neutrality rules being considered by Congress right now.

A Parody: AT&T executives talking about Net Neutrality

Our Voice in Our Language

One of the highlights of the recent Media Justice Leadership Institute was a song written by our partners in the Bay Area. “Broadband in Yo Face” brought the message we delivered to the FCC three days before that to a space I could connect to….music. Many of us realized that the song was too special and too good not to record it. So we busted out our Zoom recorder.

The Internet Must Not Become a Segregated Online Community

When Fox News’ Glenn Beck called President Barack Obama a racist this past July, the advocacy group ColorOfChange.org launched a campaign to convince advertisers to boycott the show. To date, some 285,000 people have joined the effort, and more than 80 companies have pulled their ads.

CNN parted ways with Lou Dobbs last month after civil rights groups and Presente.org mobilized thousands of Latinos to call on CNN to dump the talk show host for spewing hate against immigrants for years.

None of this—not advocacy efforts, not countless small business success stories, not even the election of President Obama—would have happened without a free and open Internet. For communities of color, the Internet provides us with a unique opportunity to speak for ourselves without first seeking approval or permission or having to secure major funds to do so. But big telecom companies like AT&T, Verizon and Comcast want to create an effectively segregated online community where they will act as gatekeepers.