Media Democracy Day Vancouver 2010

Question. Create. Transform.

What is Media Democracy Day and why do we need it?

According to the civics textbooks, journalism is supposed to provide high-quality information through a wide range of perspectives and voices to promote participation in public discussion, and informed citizenship. But behind the buzzwords of the day — convergence, global competitiveness, de-regulation, consumer choice — the reality is that we now live with a media system controlled by fewer and fewer owners (eg. General Electric, Time/Warner/AOL, and CanWest/GlobeMedia/Rogers in Canada).

Our media is becoming more integrated into the profit-making imperatives of trans-national conglomerates; more driven by marketing and commercial pressures rather than an ethic of public service; more shaped by the corporate agenda and its neo-liberal ideology of slashing taxes for the wealthy, and public services for the rest of us.

No wonder the American writer Robert McChesney (author of Rich Media, Poor Democracy and Corporate Media & the Threat to Democracy) says:

Regardless of what a progressive group's first issue of importance is, its second issue should be media and communication, because so long as the media are in corporate hands, the task of social change will be vastly more difficult, if not impossible, across the board.

That's why since 2001, Media Democracy Day has provided a place for citizens, activists, media artists, innovators, policy makers, students, academics to come together and engage in a dynamic dialogue on the importance of creating a participatory, democratic media system that works in the interest of people, not just corporate bottom lines.

Media Democracy Day 2008

Copyright 2008 Tris Hussey. Non-commercial use permitted with attribution. If you would like to use this picture in a commercial work, please contact the photographer. See Tris Hussey's blog

Who is MDD for?

• Environmentalists who see commercial media as part of a marketing system which prioritizes consumerism over ecological sustainability;
• Peace advocates who see media too often contributing to war hysteria, and witch-hunts against dissent in the wake of Sept. 11;
• People in poverty, the elderly, single parents, people with disabilities, ethnic minorities, aboriginal peoples — all those people whose issues and concerns are generally trivialized or invisible in the corporate media
• Media workers and professionals who see standards and jobs compromised by the priorities of corporate employers;
• Alternative journalists and independent media producers, who want to build community-based media independent of State and corporate control;
• Advocates of social change and social justice who want to find avenues of communication more effective than corporate media;
• Communities of faith who want to see media too often undermining ethical values of human dignity and respect for the other;
• Students who want to learn more about the biases and power of dominant media;
• Anybody who wants to be able to trust the media not to censor important voices and issues, even if it means treading on the toes of conventional thinking or powerful interests;

Other Media Democracy Day Events
did you know that Media Democracy Day events take place across North America, and even around the world. In the past, cities in nations as far away as Spain have stood up and defended democracy by taking a critical look at the global corporate media system, and celebrating individuals and groups making media outside of this frame. check out these links for information of Media Democracy Day events in other cities:

Media Democracy Day Chicago

Media Democracy Day Vancouver 2010 Presented By:

The School of Communication at Simon Fraser University

OpenMedia.ca

The Vancouver Public Library

Sustaining Sponsors:

Community and Media Supporters:

W2 Community Media Arts

Vancouver is Awesome

The Railway Club