Speaking for Our Selves: Media Democracy Day Vancouver 2008

PRESS RELEASE
For immediate release
October 9, 2008

Media Democracy Day is a way to ensure the media that educates us is also honest. MDD is happening in Vancouver on the 25th October 2008 at the Vancouver Public Library.

Steve Anderson, organizer of Media Democracy Day 2008 Vancouver, says that "with media concentrating into fewer and fewer hands and Internet Service Providers quickly emerging as online gatekeepers, a public forum on media issues like media democracy day takes on a new sense of urgency. I'm thrilled to see such a full and diverse roster of speakers, workshops and panels; it promises to be an exciting day."

This year three panels will pay attention to the important issues influencing our current media landscape.

Panel 1, “Big Media" Clamp Down - Taking stock and fighting back, will survey some of the main battles currently being fought against Big Media.

In Panel 2, Journalism in a time of Big Media Domination, panelists will discuss the current issues being faced by traditional media and describe what they see as the possibilities of using new media and new models to do in-depth investigative projects, find untold stories, and engage new audiences. Could these projects counteract big media, and redefine journalism?

Panel 3, The Battle for New Media and Open Communication, will examine the growing role the internet has in "mass media" and if an open Internet will succumb to the same companies that control traditional media. Panelists will discuss the fight for an open Internet, prospects for new social media, and future challenges at a time of intense opposition from a powerful cartel of phone and cable companies.

Speakers for Media Democracy Day include: Rex Weyler (Author and Co-founder of Greenpeace); Matt Thompson (Award winning online video producer, Campaign Strategist for FreePress, Co-Founder of SaveOurNet.ca); Deborah Campbell (Award Winning Independent Journalist); Andrea Hayley (President of the Epoch Times Vancouver); Michael Tippett (Co-founder of Nowpublic.com); Robert Hackett (Professor at SFU and author of “Remaking Media”); Robert Scales (CEO of RainCity Studios); Brian Campell (Seriously Free Speech Committee) and Kate Milberry (Media and Technology Commentator and Blogger).

One highly anticipated workshop in Media Democracy Day in 2008 is "Community Organizing and Media: Networking for Change," which seeks to share strategies that are effective at both shaping the corporate media, and at building connections between respective community media networks working on social justice issues, such as indigenous rights, migrant rights, the environment, poverty and women's rights.

Media Democracy Day Vancouver will be held at the Vancouver Public Library, 350 West Georgia Street, on Saturday October 25th 2008 from 12 noon to 6 pm. Admission is free and open to everyone. The event also includes the Media Democracy Fair which will showcase a variety of organisations and information.

For additional media information or to discuss sponsorship opportunities please contact:

Caroline Warwick

[email protected]
778-232-6005

or Steve Anderson
[email protected]
604-837-5730

The full programme and further information on Media Democracy Day is available at

www.mediademocracyday.org

For information on setting up a FREE table as part of the Media Democracy Fair, please contact:
[email protected]

For more information on democratic media visit http://democraticmedia.ca