Brandi's blog

On Tuesday, April 23, 2013 The Applied Research Center (APC) and The Drop the I-Word Campaign joined with activists, including Fernando Chavez, attorney and eldest son of Cesar Chavez, and Jose Antonio Vargas, award-winning journalist and founder of Define American, to deliver petitions signed by 70,000 people to the New York Times urging them to stop using the term, “illegal” from their news stories when referring to individuals.   Mr. Chavez, Jose Antonio Vargas, the ARC and a coalition of supporters and activists delivered the petitions to Jill Abramson’s office, the executive editor of the NY Times.  The petition was started by Helen Chavez, Fernando Chavez’ mother and widow of Cesar Chavez. 

Three days ago I saw the aftermath of explosives that tore through a crowd of unsuspecting bystanders, shrapnel leaving a trail of destruction in its wake. I read how children lost their lives, others lost limbs and a nation looked on in horror. On Monday, this same scene played out over and over again. All of them separate bombings, all on the same day and all in the same country. Iraq is this country, where over 25 blasts rocked major metropolitan areas, many of them car bombs, that resulted in more than 61 deaths and over 274 injured.  No doubt the enormity of the loss of life and carnage is hard to imagine but if you had watched the news or read American newspapers you could be forgiven for not knowing it happened at all.

The Free Press 2013 National Conference on Media Reform in Denver, Co brought together media justice advocates, organizers, journalists and independent media makers from around the country. The liveliness of the movement for a more just and equitable media system was definitely on display in Denver. I experienced it first hand in conversations with radio hosts connecting inmates and their families from Appalachia, over drinks with digital literacy instructors working with youth from Hawaii, in interviews with Public Access TV producers from Saint Paul, Denver and Philadelphia. The message was clear across the board, we have a chance right now to build on the winning strategies of the last few years to make sure US media is accountable, representative, and democratic. Perhaps most important, we have the chance to take the tools of a 21st century media and advance movements for our human rights.

He didn’t understand why they took his dad away from them.  “It’s all my fault…I must be a bad son”. After a long time, he received a phone call and heard his dad’s voice again.  Grandma kept saying “you can’t talk too long”.  There weren’t that many calls after that one.  Then there were no calls at all. 

I attended my very first National Conference for Media Reform (#NCMR2013), last weekend as a member of the Media Action Grass Roots Network #MediaJustice Delegation. A week later, I am still chewing through so much of the content I absorbed in Denver; from panels on journalism; activism; technology; social and media justice to policy and politics; the conference was filled with passionate discussions on why media matters. 

The 2013 National Conference for Media Reform provided me with an invaluable learning experience. I would characterize the conference as an opportunity to learn social justice advocacy tools and grow social movements. While attending the Conference, I learned new community engagement/organizing strategies, engaged in strategic planning, and developed coalitions with key leaders in the media reform arena.

Winning is going to require both becoming better surfers and creating big new waves. Are we ready?

I went to the New Media Reform Conference in Denver, Colorado to practice surfing. I came home both a better surfer and more resolved to learn how to create oceanic waves.

Martinez Street Women's Center is one of our newer MAG-Net anchors, holding down our San Antonio, Texas Chapter.  MSWC has been around for 13 years plus, and their Community Health and GirlZone programs are helping to meet the needs of underserved Latina/o and African American communities in San Antonio.  Andrea Figueroa, Program Director over the GirlZone program at MSWC took a few minutes to talk to us about their work, MAG-Net and why San Antonio is a treasure of cultural media makers. 

By Cindy and Duke Schempp-Gomez

On March 9th, a group of curious community members got together for the first meeting sponsored by The People’s Press Project, and our partners at the Media Action Grassroots Network (MAG-Net). People from all walks of life and background were represented in the room and their diversity was also reflected in their different interests in Low Power FM (LPFM) radio.

by Scott Sanders

Thousands of jubilant news professionals are tossing their hats into the air and their resumes into Al Jazeera’s inbox because Al Jazeera America, a new international cable news channel, is launching this summer. But while they celebrate, Tavis Smiley, Cornel West and Amy Goodman call for a democratic revolution to transform public media.