Programs: Media Justice Advocacy

The Media Justice Movement & the Media Reform Movement
In 2003 people of color initiated and continue to lead the Media Justice Movement challenging institutional racism, and the white male power and privilege that controls the ownership, access, structure, and representation in the media. The Media Reform Movement, which addresses corporate media ownership issues, is run by mostly white, mainstream groups emphasizing consumer rights and a traditionally “free press.”

Why CCI is Needed
CCI recognizes that, given the racist history and the white male supremacy culture dominating the United States, there never has been a “free press” for people of color, women, young people, gay, lesbian, and other underrepresented groups. In November, 2005, CCI initiated its Media Justice Advocacy Program with a dual purpose: to support the Media Justice Movement in Boston and beyond and to work with the media reform groups in Boston to develop an antiracist agenda challenging corporate media.

Our Work So Far

The Greater Boston Antiracism Media Watch Blog
This blog has been created as an oline activist tool to monitor and hold local media accountable for racist content and representation and to analyze how white power and privilege frame media content.

Organizing for Antiracist Media Policy Reform
In collaboration with ACMEBoston and the Boston Neighborhood Producers Group (BNPG) CCI has been organizing petition campaigns, a rally and a press conference against the telephone companies’ lobbying efforts in Congress to rewrite our telecommunications laws. If passed in their current form, the two bills under consideration would:

• Open the doors for the telecommunications giants to discriminate against low-income communities and communities of color.

• Undermine the ability for PEG access centers to receive adequate funding, negatively thousands of access centers across the U.S. and reducing the diversity of voices and faces on cable TV.

• Create a two-tiered Internet: 1) a fast lane for those who can afford to ride on it, and 2) a dirt road for everybody else.

Community Change Inc.
14 Beacon Street, Room 605
Boston, MA 02108
Telephone: (617) 523-0555
Fax: (617) 523-1847

© 2006 Community Change, Inc.