Hobbits, rings, and reforms

Comments by Josh Silver at Change the Media, Change the World, NCMR 2011

It has now been over a week since I returned from the National Conference on Media Reform.  As I reflect on all I heard, all I learned, all I understood, one image seems to haunt me, and that image is from this talk by Josh Silver.  True, he did not create it–that was done by J.R. R. Tolkien and then by professionals in the film industry.  But it capsulizes what we are up against with corporate mainstream media reform–they are the gatekeepers–and taking back democracy in America.  –Sue Ann

Speaking at his last National Conference for Media Reform as CEO, Josh Silver said that “after 40 years of methodical and well-organized organizing and financing, the largest corporations and wealthiest Americans have achieved near complete control of political discourse and policy-making in America.

“Their maze of think tanks, PR groups, attack groups, fake grassroots organizations, lobbyists, campaign contributions to corrupted politicians are obscured by a weak and often complicit fourth estate. Together these forces block meaningful progress on nearly every issue we care about, from the environment, to education, to economic and social justice.”

Change the Media, Change the World

Uploaded by UpTakeVideo on Apr 14, 2011

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BP9nGztCrQg&w=640&h=390]