Media reform talk
set for Nov. 15

Bowen will discuss how a commercial media system driven by TV and concentrated in fewer and fewer hands is failing to serve the democratic goal of an "informed citizenry" envisioned by the nation's founders.

"The commercial media system limits our national dialogue by chopping up the world into sound-bites and sensational images," Bowen said.

"To add insult to injury, this system then forces our political candidates to pay astronomical sums of money to buy access to the public airwaves that, theoretically, belong to the American people. This system is deeply dysfunctional, undemocratic, and ripe for reform," he said.

Bowen will trace the historical roots of the U.S. media system and outline an agenda for media reform being pushed by a bipartisan coalition of organizations and political leaders, including U.S. Senators John McCain (R-AZ), Russ Feingold (D-WI), Trent Lott (R-MS) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT).

As a founding member of that coalition, Bowen has spoken on media reform at the grassroots at the first National Conference on Media Reform in Madison, WI in 2004 and the Declarations of Media Independence conference in San Francisco last July.

Bowen will also describe efforts to return local voices to the mountain media environment via the nonprofit Mountain Area Information Network (MAIN) and low-power radio station WPVM at 103.5 FM. Bowen is executive director and founder of MAIN and WPVM.

For more information, call MAIN at 255-0182 or visit http://www.main.nc.us.

Event flyer: View | Download PDF

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The Mountain Area Information Network is a nonprofit Internet Service Provider and community network serving 14 western North Carolina counties. MAIN provides a full range of services including Internet access and web hosting. Through its home page at www.main.nc.us, MAIN also presents important local information through its calendar, news and spotlight sections, and community service projects such as the Latino Digital Literacy Project and low-power FM radio station 103.5 WPVM. MAIN also supports WNC's nonprofit community through discounted service rates and free publicity.