SNAPSHOTS - NEXT STEPS, SUGGESTIONS FROM THE CALL

1. Attend GFEM’s Media and Philanthropy mini-summit, May 6, part of the Council on Foundations’ Leadership Summit, May 4-7 in Washington, DC

2. Join GFEM’s delegation to the National Conference on Media Reform (NCMR), June 5-8 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. For more information and to register for the delegation, please contact Kelly Pino at kpino@gfem.org

3. Consider sending your grantees to NCMR this year.

4. Direct discretionary funding this year to initiatives listed in the notes below.

5. Contact Charles Benton for further information and involvement with the Universal Broadband Strategy Summit, cbenton@benton.org

6. Send suggestions for future call topics, member activities and resources. Please direct items to Program Coordinator Jeff Perlstein, jperlstein@gfem.org

We’ll be joined by Josh Silver and Yolanda Hippensteele, the Executive Director and Conference Coordinator of Free Press, the hosting organization for the fourth National Conference for Media Reform (NCMR). Taking place in Minneapolis this year, the conference is the premier media policy gathering in the United States for advocates, organizations, pundits, producers, politicians, and funders.

LAURA EFURD of ZeroDivide, Moderator: We initiated this topic in recognition of the policy opportunities and challenges presented by the transitions that will be taking place in Washington, D.C. and around the country as a result of this election year. With the support of the Media Policy Working Group’s Program Director, Jeff Perlstein, I produced an article for GFEM’s newsletter that surveyed the activities and opinions of five key advocates in the media policy sector. The piece highlights their perspectives and includes some of my thoughts on areas for strategic support by funders, to make the most of this election cycle and future ones.

Today, we’re diverging a bit from the standard “briefing format” and using this article as a jumping off point to stimulate discussion amongst funders about what they’re seeing – and not seeing – in the field. We’re also seeking to spark a renewed dialogue about what we think would be valuable future activities for this Media Policy Working Group (MPWG).

We’re fortunate today to be able to feature the input of three colleagues as part of this conversation: Helen Brunner, of The Media Democracy Fund, Jenny Toomey of The Ford Foundation, and Charles Benton of The Benton Foundation.

Before I ask them a couple questions and then open this up to the group, I’d like to briefly mention two examples of strategic activities that I was able to identify that advocates are putting in motion this year:

- The 25 member Media and Democracy Coalition plans to raise the profile of media and telecommunications policy at the nominating conventions of the Democrats and Republicans. According to Beth McConnell, the project’s Executive Director, plans are under way to hold a media policy symposium during the Denver convention for delegates and advocates, and they would like to do something similar in Minneapolis during the Republican convention.

- Alex Nogales, Executive Director of the National Hispanic Media Coalition, noted their work with the Minority Media Telecommunications Council to develop a list of policy experts - particularly people of color - that they will urge be considered for key administration posts. They are in the midst of developing criteria for these candidates, including a compelling civil rights vision for the new administration.

Now I’d like to lay out some questions for our featured respondents, and for all of us to take up today:

1. Are there other activities, besides what’s been mentioned here and reflected in the article, that media advocates are engaged in to assure that media justice work is at the top of the next Presidential agenda?

2. Are there other priorities you've seen at the state or local level?

3. What should funders be thinking about for longer-term impact in the next administration? Are there strategies being employed in other sectors that are transferable?

4. What can funders interested in media policy do this year?


Helen, can we begin with you? Would you give us a sense of the activities you’re seeing from the sector?

HELEN BRUNNER, Media Democracy Fund: Yes, thank you Laura. I’d like to share with you some of the activities we’re seeing and supporting that are geared towards making the most of the electoral cycles in D.C. and in the states:

- The Center for Rural Strategies (CRS) and Main Street Project worked together on a Summit on Agricultural Life, where digital inclusion was featured. During a non-partisan presidential candidate forum, participants spent time with Senators John Edwards, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

- CRS and The League of Rural Voters serve on the Steering Committee of the national Rural Assembly, which will take place in June and has a part of the agenda devoted to rural broadband deployment. These groups are also working on the possibility of a rural issues candidate summit where digital inclusion would get some play.

- The Daily Yonder, a rural portal produced by CRS, is doing extensive analysis of rural/exurban/urban voting patterns and this is being tracked closely by the campaigns of all 3 major candidates.

- Urban Dreams, in Des Moines Iowa, was one of the conveners of the Black Brown Presidential Forum that took place during the run-up to the Iowa caucuses. They had a half day on technology and broadband deployment as part of the forum activities. The Black Brown Forum is one of the oldest multi-racial presidential forums in the United States and most of the Democrats and a few of the Republican candidates attended.

- Faculty at Penn State University are working with scholars around the country as part of the new Future of American Communications Working Group to produce a book that will be published by November, outlining a comprehensive public interest-focused telecommunications policy agenda for the next federal administration. It will also include analysis and comparison to international benchmarks.

In discussing “transition activities” it's important not to ignore the state and local levels:

- The Progressive States Network (PSN) is planning numerous activities that all aim to arm state legislators and advocates with model legislation, advocacy strategies, and messaging points, so that when the transition occurs they can hit the ground running. Some of the specific state-level policies they will be promoting are: digital literacy programs, universal broadband deployment, and requirements in statewide video franchising bills for better consumer protections, build-out requirements, PEG TV protections, and municipal control of decision-making.

- PSN is planning a targeted broadband and media reform education campaign for state leaders, providing general information on these topics and strategies on how to work with a new D.C. administration to increase funding for better broadband and media reform policies in the states.

- PSN is briefing state-level officials at the National Conference of State Legislators on what to expect in 2009 and beyond.


One big issue that I was surprised the advocates in the article didn't mention is the upcoming Digital TV Transition. There will be numerous impacts upon consumers, disproportionately affecting low-income community members.

- The Media Democracy Fund is supporting the development of MAG-Net (Media Action Grassroots Network), a national network of 10 regional media organizing hubs that is building bridges to other social justice organizations and sectors. The MAG-Net groups are working closely to develop a nationally coordinated Digital TV Transition campaign that is anchored in local communities, responding to local concerns. They are also working closely with Consumers Union on the campaign.

KAREN HELMERSON, NYSCA: I’d love to have more information on the Digital TV Transition and issues around that for grantees and funders.

JEFF PERLSTEIN, GFEM: There are some resources on the GFEM website, including some great ones from the Benton Foundation. Be sure to check out a recent summary Charles provided about the recommendations made to the FCC by the Consumer Advisory Committee. There’s also this great FAQ by Consumers Union. I’ll be posting more in the coming weeks.

JENNY TOOMEY, Ford Foundation: Hi everyone, I’m new here at Ford and looking forward to working with you all.

As someone who’s been an advocate in this sector and is now keeping an eye on strategic developments with a funder hat on, it’s my sense that people are really looking forward to the new opportunities that will be emerging to work with regulatory agencies and private sector. The regulatory agencies of all three of the current presidential candidates would likely regulate more than they have for the past eight years.

In the environment of little regulation we've had the last eight or more years, industry has had no need to negotiate with public interest organizations, so much of the work of the media reform/ media justice community has been largely oppositional. That will change. Some of our grantees at Ford are preparing for opportunities to work with industry to establish reasonably agreed-to public interest obligations. This will likely not be a majority of the work, but it is another aspect, another tool in the toolbox of change-making.

OLIVE MOSIER, William Penn Foundation: Many of the appointments in new administrations, and thus the policies that get enacted, are the result of one-on-one relationships and groundwork set now. What's being done to work with the campaigns in this regard?

HELEN BRUNNER, MDF: A number of organizations, mostly D.C.-based, are working in this realm: Free Press and others. Some key advocates I know of are advising campaigns as individuals.

LORI MCGLINCHEY, Open Society Institute: I’d like to share an example from one of our grantees in a different sector, whose "transition activities” may make sense for the media reform sector to consider. The Union of Concerned Scientists is mobilizing their membership to sign on to a number of policy statements that they’re giving high-profile releases, timed to have an impact during the election season and “calling on the next president to set a different policy agenda” than under the Bush Administration.

They’ve had strong press response to two recent letters: one calling on the next President to “Take Unilateral Steps to Reduce [the] Nuclear Weapons Threat”, and the other to limit the influence of political agendas in conducting independent scientific inquiry. Each is accompanied by a report with detailed research and policy recommendations showing the reasoning behind such a policy agenda.

CHARLES BENTON, Benton Foundation: Speaking of “agenda setting” for the next Administration, Laura and Jeff asked me to share with the group the work that several of us are involved with to convene a Universal Broadband Strategy Summit early next year. We are looking to positively influence the new administration’s policy on broadband deployment. The planning committee cuts across sectors and includes many key industry players as well as advocates.

I hope you’ll take a look at the brief item on the GFEM website and follow up with me if you are at all interested in more information.

I’d also like to invite you all to learn more about this initiative and join us at a reception by The Benton Foundation on Sunday May 4 at the upcoming Council on Foundations Summit. This will take place from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m., just before the conference’s opening ceremony on Sunday night.

Please RSVP by Wednesday, April 30, 2008 to Cecilia Garcia, cgarcia@benton.org
or 202-454-5611.


NEXT STEPS

LAURA EFURD: Thank you to everyone who’s been able to chime in so far, it’s been a rich discussion. Now I’d like to move us to a group discussion of near-term and longer-term activities that can directly support grantees and/or strengthen the efforts of this working group to improve and grow the sector.

1) Near-term activities:

a) 2008 Discretionary Funding for Election Year "Transition" Activities -
For those funders who have a discretionary budget, it is recommended to direct grants to initiatives incorporating a strategic approach to election year opportunities. The projects detailed on this call provide a great place to start.

b) National Conference on Media Reform, NCMR

- Send your grantees to the conference to learn about connections between their work and media policy. Laura mentions that ZeroDivide sent a delegation of grantees from the production side of things to the last conference. They produced numerous multi-media stories to share with their colleagues.

- Use the conference’s notable speakers and “live webstream” as an opportunity to point your grantees to the Free Press website and learn about media policy.

- Attend the conference as part of the GFEM funders’ delegation – for more information and to register, contact Kelly Pino, kpino@gfem.org


2) Near and longer-term activities to strengthen this working group’s knowledge base, effectiveness, activity level:

Questions: What makes sense as the role for GFEM staff and members in these activities? What is strategic in strengthening and growing the field?

Responses:
- More information, education and resources on trends in the media policy field
- More spaces for dialogue and strategy sharing amongst funders
- A continuation of this initial discussion about strategy, goals, activities

JEFF PERLSTEIN, GFEM:

- It’s encouraging to hear that there’s interest in continuing this discussion around the strategy, goals, and activities of the Media Policy Working Group. We’ll be seeking to carve out time for these discussions in coming months.

- As one opportunity, we’re now beginning to prepare a GFEM Member Survey to gather more input on these questions. Please send along issues and items you’d like to see included in this survey.

- Send suggestions for future call topics, member activities and resources – as well as any questions - to me at jperlstein@gfem.org


GFEM ANNOUNCEMENTS

ALYCE MYATT, GFEM DIRECTOR:

Our delegation to the recent Full Frame Film Festival was a big success, and now we’re looking towards the Council on Foundations Leadership Summit from May 4-7, especially our day-long Media and Philanthropy Mini-Summit on May 6.

Here’s a sampling of some of the speakers who’ll be joining us on May 6 at the newly-opened Newseum:
- FCC Commissioner Michael Copps
- Alberto Ibarguen, President/CEO, John S. & James L. Knight Foundation
- Chuck Lewis, The Fund for Independence in Journalism
- Ruth Wooden, President, Public Agenda
- John Schreiber, EVP of Social Action and Advocacy, Participant Productions
- Tom Rosenstiel, Director of the Project for Excellence in Journalism

These excellent presenters and others will address pressing media issues facing civil society, including some that we discussed today on the call, i.e. DTV transition and net neutrality.

For more information on the GFEM Mini-Summit, click here.
For more information on the COF Leadership Summit, click here.

Register today! You will be able to register for GFEM’s Media and Philanthropy Mini-Summit when you register for the broader Council on Foundations Summit.


JEFF PERLSTEIN, MPWG PROGRAM COORDINATOR:

1. GFEM Delegation to the National Conference on Media Reform, June 5-8

Join us as part of the GFEM delegation to the premier media policy gathering in the United States for advocates, pundits, politicians, and funders.

This year’s speaker’s include Bill Moyers, Naomi Klein, Dan Rather, FCC Commissioners Copps and Adelstein, Arianna Huffington, Senator Byron Dorgan, Amy Goodman, Van Jones, Lawrence Lessig, and many more. In addition to the more than sixty dynamic workshop sessions and keynote presentations scheduled, GFEM delegates will have access to these events:

- Lunch with FCC Commissioners – On Saturday June 7th, GFEM delegates will meet with FCC Commissioners Copps and Adelstein over lunch.

- Saturday GFEM Dinner – We’ll be featuring 2 Special Guests as our headliners for this always popular event. Last year Congressman Ed Markey was the keynote.

- Daily Prep Breakfasts – Gather with GFEM staff and Board members each morning to map out the day’s top workshops and activities.

We’ve reserved a block of rooms for the delegation but they’re going quickly and must be claimed before May 1!!

To learn more about the conference, click here.

To register for the delegation, please contact Kelly Pino at kpino@gfem.org


2. Next Conference Call of Media Policy Working Group – May 28, 2pm EST

“The Inside Scoop: The National Conference on Media Reform, June 6-8”

Join us for a conference preview by Josh Silver and Yolanda Hippensteele, the Executive Director and Conference Coordinator of Free Press, hosts of the fourth National Conference for Media Reform. Save the date, we’ll be sending the call in number shortly.

3. Your Ideas Here ________: What do you suggest? What would be helpful?

Please take a minute to send along your suggestions for future call topics, member activities and resources – as well as any questions - to me, Jeff Perlstein, at jperlstein@gfem.org

Thank you for your participation, looking forward to speaking with you soon!


Jeff Perlstein
Program Coordinator, Media Policy Working Group
Grantmakers in Film + Electronic Media