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Free Press

Free Press is a media reform campaign based in Northampton, MA, and founded by Bob McChesney and Nation columnist John Nichols. Although both have been active in media analysis and activism for many years the genesis of the project seems rooted in an article they wrote for the January 2002 edition of the Nation. In that piece they argued for “a national media reform coalition that can play quarterback for the media reform movement..”That article led to contact from Rep. Bernie Sanders and a town hall meeting featuring “an animated discussion of how to turn anger into action” as McChesney and Nichols put it in their book ‘Our Media Not Theirs.’ The campaign has multiple parts, because as McChesney has put it “media criticism, …alternative media, media reform … are all three indispensable legs to democratic media activism, and each of them needs the other two.” Their website highlights action on media ownership, independent media, global communication, and a range of other issues (governance, internet policy, hypercommercialism).Specifically the campaign:

• is organising the media reform conference in Madison, in early November, 2003. 
• is utilising tools such as petitions and call-ins, as used by other groups such as MoveOn.
• is lobbying on Capitol Hill and working with congresspeople to draft sympathetic legislation and oppose moves such as the FCC changes in media ownership rules.

funferal frequently carries items relating to Free Press and their media reform campaign.