Reclaim the Media Convergence Challenges Deregulation and Monopoly as National Association of Broadcasters Meets in Seattle

Interview with Sheri Herndon, organizer with the Indymedia Network, conducted by Scott Harris.

Years of giant mergers in the media and telecommunications industry have led to unprecedented consolidation of ownership and virtual monopolies in broadcasting, publishing and on the Internet. The Federal Communications Commission, under chairman Michael Powell, has publicly questioned the need for media ownership rules and is expected to eliminate them soon.

In this environment of ever intensifying deregulation, growing numbers of citizens are questioning the U.S. media system which provides little accountability for powerful media owners resulting, they say, in limited diversity of programming and political viewpoints. The airwaves belong to the public, but increasingly critics charge that the public interest is taking a back seat to the interests of big business in maximizing their profits.

While the National Association of Broadcasters -- the corporate broadcasting industry's most powerful lobby -- meets in Seattle Washington for their annual radio convention, a coalition of independent journalists, media activists and community organizers will be there Sept. 10 through 15 to challenge the status quo and spark debate. Reclaim The Media: a Community Media Convergence, organized by this coalition, will feature a series of events which include teach-ins, rallies and direct action. Between The Lines' Scott Harris spoke with Sheri Herndon of the Indymedia Network, who discusses the goals of the Convergence and the importance of non-corporate independent media.

Learn more about the Seattle Community Media Convergence by visiting the group's Web site at www.reclaimthemedia.org

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