MAG-Net

THE MEDIA ACTION GRASSROOTS NETWORK

WHO WE ARE
The Media Action Grassroots Network (MAG-Net) is a local-to-local advocacy network of grassroots social justice,
media, and cultural organizations working together to build power for social change through the critical use and
transformation of media and communications systems. MAG-Net is a project of the Center for Media Justice.

As a grassroots network, our membership is our strength. We act together to secure changes with and for the com-
munities we represent.

OUR MISSION AND VALUES

MAG-Net’s mission is to build a transformative movement for media justice that is effective, integrated, and sustain-
able and that advances racial justice, economic justice, gender equity, and human rights.

To thrive, communities pushed furthest to the margins need communications infrastructure and policies that sup-
port real democratic engagement. Media rules that advance justice, equity, and rights require a strategy to increase
the collaboration and effectiveness of the media reform and justice sector. MAG-Net was launched in 2004 to reach
these goals, expand the base committed to media and cultural change, and improve media policy and conditions
for disenfranchised communities.
MAG-Net
WHAT WE DO AND HOW WE DO IT
Our member groups improve the media conditions and increase the media power of underrepresented com-
munities through local organizing projects, regional-to-national alliance building and campaigns, leadership
development, and community-centered policy change.

Through community building and membership activities, a media justice Learning Community, strategic advo-
cacy, and a regional capacity- and alliance-building initiative, MAG-Net seeks to:

• Connect, nurture, and engage individual media justice leaders to develop and elevate shared models,
vision, and strategies for change

• Develop the leadership, capacity, and long-term sustainability of grassroots regional organizations based
in historically disenfranchised communities and working at the intersection of media/cultural change and
social justice

• Strengthen the effectiveness of regional alliance building and community organizing for media policy
change that expands media access, equity, and cultural self-determination

• Increase the impact of grassroots media policy development and advocacy for racial justice, economic
equity, and human rights

ANCHOR ORGANIZATIONS
THE CENTER FOR MEDIA JUSTICE (CMJ), Oakland, CA – MAG-Net Coordinator
The Center for Media Justice is a national communications strategy and advocacy center for grassroots leaders
and organizations based in historically disenfranchised communities. CMJ’s work builds the power of movements
for racial justice, economic equity, and human rights to become more effective, collaborative, and transformative.

ESPERANZA PEACE AND JUSTICE CENTER, San Antonio, TX

Since 1987, the Center has used cultural production and organizing to help individuals and grassroots organiza-
tions acquire the knowledge and skills to support life in a just society. Through advocacy efforts, public forums,
actions, and art, they challenge oppression across race, class, sexual orientation, gender, age, and health, as
well as physical and cultural boundaries.
MAIN STREET PROJECT (MSP), Minneapolis, MN
Main Street Project is a grassroots cultural organizing, media justice, and economic development initiative work-
ing to help rural communities face today’s realities with hope. They provide creative and practical tools to give
rural residents of all ages, cultures, and economic and immigration status the opportunity to more fully partici-
pate in all aspects of community life.

MEDIA ALLIANCE, Oakland, CA

Media Alliance is a 32-year-old media resource and advocacy center for media workers, non-profit organiza-
tions, and social justice activists. Their mission is excellence, ethics, diversity, and accountability in all aspects
of the media in the interest of peace, justice, and social responsibility.

MEDIA JUSTICE LEAGUE, San Antonio, TX

Launched in 2004 after a critical FCC hearing, the Media Justice League is a diverse media justice organization
committed to collaborating with local communities and organizations to advocate for media change and social
justice strategically using all aspects of grassroots music, media, and technology.

MEDIA LITERACY PROJECT (MLP), Albuquerque, NM

MLP was founded in 1993 to cultivate critical thinking and activism in our media culture. They are committed
to building a healthy world through media justice. Beginning as an outreach project of Albuquerque Academy,
MLP develops multimedia resources and presentations on issues of representation, consumerism, and power.
While MLP prioritizes their work within the Southwestern U.S., they have worked nationally and internationally
on media justice issues.

MEDIA MOBILIZING PROJECT (MMP), Philadelphia, PA

The Media Mobilizing Project exists to unleash the powerful combination of communications, media making,
and organizing in order to clarify the issues at stake, document lived human realities, and act as a tool to inspire
and unite those who have a vested interest in change.

PEOPLE’S PRODUCTION HOUSE (PPH), New York, NY

PPH believes a diverse, ethical, and independent media is an essential element of social change, and that
historically excluded communities must be protagonists in media democracy. PPH’s work combines media
creation, media policy education, and media organizing to preserve and expand the free press so central to
America’s identity and democracy.

www.mag-net.org
MAG-Net
THE MEDIA ACTION GRASSROOTS NETWORK

RECLAIM THE MEDIA (RTM), Seattle, WA

Based in Seattle, Reclaim the Media is a grassroots regional organization dedicated to pursuing a more just so-
ciety by transforming the media system and expanding the communications rights of ordinary people. Through
grassroots organizing, education, networking, and advocacy, Reclaim the Media advocates for a free and di-
verse press, community access to communications tools and technology, and media policy that serves the
public interest.

THOUSAND KITES, Whitesburg, KY

Thousand Kites is a community-based performance, web, video, and radio project centered on the U.S. prison
system. Thousand Kites works directly with stakeholders using communication strategies and campaigns to
engage citizens and build grassroots power. They use performance, web, video, and radio to open a public
space for incarcerated people, corrections officials, the formerly incarcerated,
grassroots activists, and ordinary citizens to dialogue and organize around the
U.S. criminal justice system.

JOIN THE MOVEMENT FOR MEDIA JUSTICE!

For more information about MAG-Net:
www.mag-net.org
ph: 510-768-7400 x18
1611 Telegraph Ave., Suite 510
Oakland, CA 94612

www.mag-net.org
One nation, online - The Boston Globe 6/29/10 1:26 PM

THIS STORY HAS BEEN FORMATTED FOR EASY PRINTING

One nation, online

The push to make broadband access a civil right
By Rebecca Tuhus-Dubrow | June 20, 2010

If you’re one of the millions of Americans who use broadband Internet at home, you probably take for granted how
deeply it’s woven into your life. It has transformed the way we pay our bills, seek romance, procrastinate, and keep
abreast of politics and the lives of friends. The pre-Google era has become a distant, hazy memory.

If anything, many of us often half-wish we could escape the Internet’s clutches. The constant connectivity can be a
shackle as much as a convenience. Our habits have even triggered a serious debate about whether all that clicking
and toggling is warping our brains.

But as the Internet grows more and more important to modern life, some are now asking a different kind of question:
Should broadband access be a civil right?

It may seem strange to put the technology that brought us Facebook in the august category where we place voting, or
trial by jury. But increasingly, activists, analysts, and government officials are arguing that Internet access has become
so essential to participation in society — to finding jobs and housing, to civic engagement, even to health — that it
should be seen as a right, a basic prerogative of all citizens. And in cases where people don’t have access, whether
because they can’t afford it or the infrastructure is not in place, the government should have the power — and perhaps
the duty — to fix that.

The idea is already gaining traction both overseas and in the United States. In 2009, Finland passed a law requiring
telecom companies, as of next month, to make broadband available to all citizens, even in remote areas. UN
conferences have featured discussion of an international “Internet Bill of Rights” that would include the right to
affordable access; a Pew survey of attendees at the 2007 UN Internet Governance Forum in Rio found that a majority
of the respondents supported the idea of such a bill. And the notion is not confined to the progressive spheres of
Europe and the UN: In Washington, at least two of the five commissioners at the Federal Communications
Commission, Michael Copps and Mignon Clyburn, have said that broadband needs to be seen as a civil right.

As Internet use becomes ever more widespread, advocates say, it becomes an indispensable venue for activities like
speech and political participation. More and more government functions are gravitating online; a vast and growing
segment of social and cultural life now unfolds on the Web. The Internet, these advocates argue, has not only created
a new world, its prevalence has also made it a prerequisite for full membership in the old one.

“Increasingly you can’t find a job without it. You can’t complete your education, or compete with your peers without it.
You can’t take advantage of the tools of modern medicine without it,” Copps said recently in an interview. “I would
hope as we go along...that it does become enshrined as a civil right.”

But characterizing Internet access as a civil right raises a number of vexing questions. Who would pay to bring
broadband into households without it? By creating a right based on technology, are we making it harder for citizens to
make their own, equally valid decisions to opt out of using it? And some analysts, while supporting the goal of
universal service, simply don’t believe that a digital network should be elevated to the status of a right.

Even these skeptics, however, generally agree that broadband access is already deeply entwined with existing civil
rights. Whether the government must ensure access to the means of taking part, or merely refrain from blocking it, is
another question — and one that gets to the heart of what a civil right in America is.

Although supporters don’t see broadband as the kind of fundamental right enshrined in the Constitution — the basic
human freedoms that protect individuals from government control of their lives — society acknowledges other kinds of
rights as well, such as the right not to be excluded from the essential privileges of citizenship. This is the kind of right

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One nation, online - The Boston Globe 6/29/10 1:26 PM

enforced by the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which guaranteed people equal treatment and equal access to schools and
public facilities, regardless of race. The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 was similarly crafted to ensure disabled
people could fully participate in American society.

Supporters also see a parallel in the 1934 Telecommunications Act, which aimed to make affordable access to
telephone and radio services “available, so far as possible, to all the people of the United States.” Though it did not
declare telephone access a right, the law was updated in 1996 to mandate that providers contribute to a “Universal
Service Fund” which helps defray the bills of low-income residents and subsidizes service in low-density areas where
prices would be quite high if left to the free market. This charge is often passed on to consumers in the form of an
extra fee on phone bills.

Now, the same kind of attention is turning to broadband, widely seen as the most important new infrastructure of the
21st-century. (The emphasis is on broadband, rather than dial-up Internet access, because so much of the online
world increasingly requires a higher-speed connection to download data and upload forms.)

“Pick an area of life and it’s affected,” says Mark Pruner, president of the Native American Broadband Association, an
advocacy group that aims to bring broadband to reservations.

Pruner and other advocates can tick off a long list of basic civic functions for which the Internet has become vital. A
large percentage of jobs advertise exclusively online and require that applications be submitted electronically.
Commerce increasingly takes place online. With every election, Internet access grows more important to political
engagement. And the Internet makes it easy to find the text of bills, learn how your representatives vote, and read
about the White House’s plans and positions.

Even health is affected to a surprising degree. Medical institutions have begun to use the Internet to manage health
information and let patients and doctors communicate more closely — an improvement in health care unavailable to
people without ready access to the Web. “Telemedicine” — doctors’ appointments via the Internet — is expected to be
the next wave in health care innovation.

Of course, most of these opportunities remain available through other means — by mail, by phone, in person. The
Internet is an immensely valuable vehicle for free speech, but you can still take a bullhorn and air your grievances on
the street corner. However, the more central the Internet’s advantages become to mainstream society, the more acute
the disadvantage of lacking them. As Adam Smith wrote in “The Wealth of Nations,” necessity is always relative:
Although a linen shirt was not technically a “necessary,” it had become one in the context of his society, because a
worker would be ashamed to appear in public without one.

A substantial fraction of Americans now lack access to this modern necessity. In October 2009, a Department of
Commerce survey found that a little over one-third of households did not use a broadband service. Sometimes this is
by choice, but often it’s because of cost. In one survey, people told the FCC they paid an average of almost $41 per
month for broadband, but that can vary widely; as a rule, broadband is more expensive in rural areas, some of which
don’t have the relevant infrastructure at all. Usage figures correlate strongly with income, the Department of Commerce
found: Households with family incomes above $50,000 overwhelmingly have broadband, but it’s far less common for
lower-income people. The numbers also differ by race. Only about 45 percent of African-Americans, and an even lower
percentage of Hispanics, use broadband at home.

Given how important the online world is to so many aspects of 21st-century life, when many observers look at
Americans without broadband, they see a group of people who are slowly being excluded from society. Without it, says
Benjamin Lennett, a policy analyst at the Wireless Futures program at the New American Foundation, “You’re simply
not going to be able to have equal standing in society. You’re simply going to be left out.”

But there is a case against enshrining broadband access as a civil right. Civil rights and liberties, especially in America,
are most often characterized as “negative rights” — that is, freedom from, rather than entitlement to. You are free to be
left alone to worship as you please and to say what you like. Voting is a notable exception. But ideologically speaking,
the American conception of rights, unlike that in the social democracies of Europe, has always been more sympathetic
to negative rights than positive ones.

On a practical level, one obvious problem is that creating any new right of access requires money — either taxpayer
money, or, in this case, extra charges levied on current telecommunications customers. Health care offers one

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One nation, online - The Boston Globe 6/29/10 1:26 PM

analogy. Americans do not, as citizens of some countries do, have a legally enshrined right to health care — in part
because the costs of such a right in our health care system could be astronomical. That said, the costs of universal
broadband would be far more limited and predictable than those of health care. And the Americans with Disabilities Act
is an example of a successful civil rights law that costs money to enforce, but has become broadly accepted.

More philosophically, some people argue that the category of civil rights is almost sacrosanct, defined by basic notions
of human liberty and need, and broadband access simply does not rise to that level. Considering that Americans aren’t
legally entitled to a house or a computer, does it make sense to mandate broadband access at home?

“To declare it as a national goal is a better way to do it than to make it a civil right,” says Pruner.

The government has already started trying to remedy the inequality in broadband access. In March, the FCC released
a National Broadband Plan, requested by Congress in 2009, to outline ways to ensure universal service. Among its
recommendations is to shift up to $15.5 billion over the next 10 years from the Universal Service Fund to support
broadband. It also recommends another fund to promote broadband on tribal lands, where it is estimated that fewer
than 10 percent of residents currently have the service. There is also an effort underway at the FCC to reclassify
broadband as a “common carrier” regulated service rather than an information service. This change would grant the
FCC much more authority over broadband providers, partly with the goal of expanding access. Telecom interests, and
many members of Congress, strongly oppose the idea.

The New America Foundation, a nonpartisan think tank, has proposed that the government itself should be the
provider of last resort in underserved rural areas, much as the Tennessee Valley Authority brought electricity to a wide
swath of the country in the 1930s.

If such plans are enacted, the question of “rights” may be partly a matter of semantics — the practical goal of
advocates is universal access, however that is achieved. “That is the only way to ensure a level playing field,” says
Malkia Cyril, executive director of the Center for Media Justice.

But the debate itself, as it plays out, is highlighting something important about the Internet: More than electricity, more
than the telephone — probably in an unprecedented way — the online world enables citizens to exercise their other
rights, the ones enshrined in the Constitution. There is, increasingly, a virtual America layered on top of the real one,
and “citizenship” means having a space in both.

Rebecca Tuhus-Dubrow is a contributing writer for Ideas. She can be reached at rebecca.tuhusdubrow@gmail.com.

© Copyright 2010 The New York Times Company

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Center for Media Justice

Depressed by Dial-up: Disenfranchised Grassroots

Groups Plan Massive National Day of Action for
Affordable, Open Internet
Hundreds of groups sign digital champion pledge calling for
equal access and open networks
02.10.2010 – On the heels of Google's groundbreaking announcement of its plans to
build a high-speed open network, local advocates and community leaders of the Media
Action Grassroots Network (MAG-Net) are asking Congress to protect the principles of
an open internet, while dismantling significant barriers to broadband adoption in
un-served and under-served communities. These advocates say if the FCC's National
Broadband Plan extends the existing Universal Service Fund rules and resources to
broadband and mobile devices, and Congress supports action to protect broadband
networks with strong net neutrality rules, it will give millions of poor people and people
of color the chance to not only log-on to the internet, but log-in to democracy.

Companies like AT&T, Comcast, and Verizon are hoping to set the terms on which users
can access content over Internet networks, which could expand their profits
exponentially. Advocates are concerned that a broadband plan that doesn’t protect the
principles of an open internet and allows ISP providers and big telecommunications
companies broad leeway to block content or discriminate on speeds may defeat the
purpose of extending broadband to communities that need it most.

"The internet is now a critical part of all our daily lives," said Amalia Deloney, MAG-Net
Coordinator and Policy Director at the Center for Media Justice. "We use it for almost
everything and we need to make it accessible and affordable. But without rules to
protect the poor and people of color from the corporate bottom-line, free speech will
continue to get more and more expensive."

Though Big Media promised not to block content, their questionable practices have
already come under scrutiny by federal regulators and advocates alike. Users
discovered Comcast arbitrarily blocking file-sharing traffic across its network, penalizing
users with slower speeds or complete disconnection without warning. Similarly, Verizon
blocked a text-messaging campaign over its network. Big 'Telecom' companies have
argued that they need wide discretion to manage traffic over their networks, and will not
build out broadband in poor communities without it, but some are concerned that they

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are simply setting up tiered-access systems on the Internet.

"What big media basically wants is a poll tax for users and content providers," said
Steven Renderos of Main Street Project in Minneapolis, a MAG-Net leader. "We’re being
forced to make a false choice between unregulated discriminatory networks or no
networks at all. For my community the Internet is the only place to create and share
content in our own voices, an arena TV and print networks have failed in because of
consolidation and high start-up costs. Congress and the FCC shouldn’t risk the loss of
our public voice for the sake of corporate greed."

Center for Media Justice Director Malkia Cyril added, "Some civil rights groups in
Washington are afraid that we can’t have representation and broadband access at the
same time. Hundreds of civil rights groups in local communities across the country
disagree. The FCC is off to a great start by recognizing that you can’t close the digital
divide without accessible and open networks. Congress should go further to champion
that cause and encourage the codification of strong net neutrality rules that prevent
discrimination on the Internet and ensure it remains a platform of innovation, freedom,
and equity."

The Media Action Grassroots Network (MAG-Net) is a local-to-local advocacy network

of nearly 100 grassroots social justice, media, and cultural organizations working
together for social change through the critical use and transformation of media and
communications systems.

For information about actions across the country, please use the following links to local
releases:

Appalachia - Dial-up in Appalachia

Bay Area - Affordable Broadband Week of Action

Minnesota - Twin Cities Community Gets Up to Speed with High Speed Internet

New Mexico - "Show your Love for Broadband" Campaign Unites NM Communities

Philadelphia - The Bills are Too High

San Antonio - Local Advocates ask Congress to be Digital Inclusion Champions

Twitter Pitch
Depressed by dial-up? So are millions of other people across America.
#mediajustice

News Facts

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Twin Cities Community Gets Up To Speed With High-Speed Internet

Mark Ritchie – Minnesota

Secretary of State and Minnesota Digital Justice Coalition to hold
Community Forum on Importance of the Internet on Monday, Feb. 15, 1
– 2 p.m at Brian Coyle Center, 420 15th Ave. S, Minneapolis.

Contact: Steven Renderos, Main Street Project, 952-594-9263

Eastern Kentucky youth will hold a Broadband Quilting Bee involving a

live radio broadcast, a series of online actions to raise awareness about
lack of Internet access in rural America and the launch of a the music
video "My Chicken's Ain't Got No Scratch," which tells the story of
residents in Harlan County who are still on dial-up internet.

Residents will have a meeting at Congressman Hal Roger's office in

Prestonsburg, KY. Feb. 15. Appalshop, 91 Madison Ave, Whitesburg, KY
41858. 1-4pm

Contact: Nick Szuberla, Thousand Kites, 606-633-0108

Media Literacy Project and community partners will hold a news

conference at the South Valley Economic Development Center - 318
Isleta Blvd. SW, Albuquerque, NM 87105 - on Monday, February 15th at
12 p.m. for the "Show Your Love for Broadband" campaign.

The New Mexico Congressional Delegation has been invited to unveil its
signed letter to the FCC. Speakers will include Albuquerque Partnership,
New Mexico State Librarian Susan Oberlander, and various community
organizations.

Contacts:
Andrea Quijada 505-450-9954, Elisa Pintor 312-498-0038

Media Mobilizing Project - The Bills are Too High: Community education
and support on rising costs of gas, electric, cable and internet - our
basic utility needs. Monday, February 15th from 6pm - 8pm Tuttleman
Learning Center room 105 at the intersection of 13th and Montgomery.
Guest Speakers Include: Chris Rabb, Founder of AfroNetizen.com, Juliet
Fink, Director of Education at Philadelphia FIGHT
Lance Haver, Director of Consumer Affairs for the City of Philadelphia
Bekhyon Yim, Legislative Lawyer on Energy Policy.

And members of:

Media Mobilizing Project, The Philadelphia Student Union, and The
Philadelphia Digital Justice Coalition

Contact: Bryan Mercer, Media Mobilizing Project, 215-436-9844

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The Media Justice League and San Antonio's Digital Justice Coalition
will hold an open forum on digital inclusion at 108 King William, San
Antonio, Texas on Monday, Feb. 15, 2010, 1 p.m. - 3 p.m.

Contact DeAnne Cuellar, (210) 896-9141, deannec@texasmep.org

**In San Francisco on February 20th, United Playaz at 1038 Howard

Street in San Francisco will host “What is Your Internet Story”, a teach-in
that will include a story station to generate posters, audio, video and
theater that captures the personal experiences of participants and a
video booth that will collect first-hand testimonies for submission to the
National Broadband Plan Task Force in Washington.

The event will run from 1:00pm – 3:00pm.

Contact: Eloise Lee, Media Alliance (347) 249-0402

Resource Links
Congresswoman Donna Edward's Statement on Open Interenet Rules
(http://www.divshare.com/download/10394685-7c2)
FCC Commissioner Clyburn MMTC Speech (http://www.divshare.com/download
/10394794-666)
Lady Gaga Re-Mix: Broadband in Yo Face! (http://www.divshare.com/download
/9805617-97e)
Naitonal Hispanic Media Coalition Civil Rights Open Letter
(http://www.savetheinternet.com/blog/09/11/09/open-letter-civil-rights-community-
net-neutrality)
National Association of Hispanic Journalists Letter to Chairman Genachowski
(http://www.divshare.com/download/10394716-7d7)
Net Neutrality FCC Filing by MAG-Net and Civil Rights Partners
(http://www.divshare.com/download/10394725-4e0)
NM Congressional Delegation Letter to FCC on Broadband Plan
(http://www.scribd.com/full/26733742?access_key=key-eddnr4z624s4outwboe)
UNITY Journalists of Color FCC Comments (http://www.unityjournalists.org
/mediapolicy/ucomments011910.php)

Tags
FCC, Internet, Obama, Genachowski, Net Neutrality, Civil Rights, Journalism,
Broadband, Congress, Media, Center for Media Justice, Media Action Grassroots
Network

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About & Contact

Center for Media Justice
Center for Media Justice is a movement building communications strategy and
advocacy center for grassroots leaders and organizations based in historically
disenfranchised communities. Our work builds the power of movements for racial
justice, economic equity, and human rights to become more effective, collaborative, and
transformative.

Contacting Center for Media Justice

Center for Media Justice Press Contact
1611 Telegraph, Suite 510 Karlos Gauna Schmieder
Oakland , CA 94612 Phone:: 510 768 7400 x12
Phone:: 510 768 7400 Email (mailto:karlos@centerformediajustice.org)
Fax: 510 251 9810
Website (http://centerformediajustice.org)
Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/pages
/Oakland-CA/Center-for-Media-Justice
Interview Request
/12489359547) Product Sample Request
Karlos Gauna Schmieder
Flickr (http://flickr.com/photos/mediaaction) Lisa Jervis
Phone::
MySpace 510 768 7400 x12
(http://www.myspace.com Phone:: 510 768 7400
Email (mailto:karlos@centerformediajustice.org)
/centerformediajustice) Email (mailto:lisa@centerformediajustice.org)

Twitter (http://twitter.com/mediajustice)
YouTube (http://youtube.com
/user/centermediajustice)

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Media Policy Source List

Edyael Casaperalta, Program and Research Associate, Rural Strategy Center

Edyael joined Rural Strategies after serving as a consultant for our efforts in
the Gulf Coast in the fall and winter of 2006-2007. She has worked with the
Llano Grande Center for Research and Development, a nonprofit organization
dedicated to educational pursuits and community youth leadership, beginning
when she was a sophomore at Edcouch-Elsa High School in Elsa, Texas.
Edyael is one of four founders of the Llano Grande Center’s Spanish
Language Immersion Institute
Contact: edyael@ruralstrategies.org

Malkia Cyril, Executive Director, Center for Media Justice

Malkia is founder of the Center for Media Justice. Malkia is the recipient of
the Media Leader award from the Alliance for Community Media, the
Emerging Leader award from the Media That Matters Film Festival, and
other awards from the Media Justice Fund, Rock the Vote, and others.
Malkia has appeared on or in Democracy Now, Hard Knock Radio,
Breakdown FM, Free Speech TV, the documentary Outfoxed, the
documentary Broadcast Blues, the SF Weekly, the San Francisco Bay
Guardian, the New York Times, the Village Voice, and others.
Contact: malkia@centerformediajustice.org

Amalia Deloney, Coordinator, Media Action Grassroots Network

Amalia Deloney is a Guatemala-born activist, cultural worker and former Senior

Fellow with the Main Street Project. Amalia earned her B.A. in Urban Studies and
History from Macalester College and her Juris Doctorate with a focus on Social
Justice from Hamline University School of Law. Her areas of specialization include
community organizing and education, cultural rights, non-partisan political
participation, and media justice.
Contact: amalia@centerformediajustice.org

Parul P. Desai, Associate Director, Media Access Project

Parul joined MAP in October 2005, and since then has focused on a broad range of
broadcast and cable-related issues, including low-power radio, broadcast ownership,
Net Neutrality, and leased access. She is a magna cum laude graduate of New York
Law School and her undergraduate degree is from Rutgers University.
Contact: pdesai@mediaaccess.org

Davey D, Hard Knock Radio

Davey D is a nationally recognized journalist, adjunct professor, Hip Hop

historian, syndicated talk show host, radio programmer, producer, deejay, media
and community activist. Davey D is the co-founder and host of several of the
most cited Hip Hop radio and online news journalism projects of all time. Hard
Knock Radio (HKR) is an award-winning daily syndicated prime time afternoon
show focusing on Hip Hop culture and politics.
Contact: mrdaveyd@aol.com

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Garlin Gilchrist II, Director of New Media , Center for Community Change

He joined the Center in 2009. Garlin's passion for advocacy, technology and policy guide
his actions as a professional, an organizer, and a public servant. Connecting new media and
grassroots organizing is the cornerstone of Mr. Gilchrist's work.
Contact: garlin@garlin.org

Jessica Gonzalez, Policy Counsel, National Hispanic Media Coalition

Jessica is NHMC's DC-based Policy CounselJessica executues NHMC’s federal

policy priorities before the federal agencies and in Congress. Before joining
NHMC, Jessica was a staff attorney and clinical teaching fellow at Georgetown
Law’s Institute for Public Representation (IPR. At IPR Jessica also represented
other consumer, civil rights and public interest organizations before the Federal
Communications Commission, the National Telecommunications and Information
Administration and in the Courts of Appeal. Jessica is a LLM degree candidate at
Georgetown Law. She earned her JD at Southwestern Law School, where she
worked on the Journal of Law and Trade in the Americas and the Journal of
International Media and Entertainment Law, and her BA from Loyola Marymount
University.
Contact: jgonzalez@nhmc.org

Onica Makwakwa, Executive Director, UNITY Journalists Of Color

Onica is responsible for managing the daily operations of the organization that
include ensuring diversity in newsroom hiring and news coverage. Prior to working
for UNITY, Makwakwa held director positions at other large organizations such as
the YWCA, the Black Women?s Health Imperative, the National Low Income
Housing Coalition, and the National Council of Negro Women. She received a
master's degree in education and a bachelor's degree in psychology from the
University of Iowa.
Contact: onica@unityjournalists.org

Traci L. Morris, PhD Policy Analyst, Native Public Media

Traci holds a Ph.D. in American Indian Studies. Prior to working for Native Public
Media, Traci owned and operated Homahota Consulting. She has worked with
Native urban and tribal communities in the state of Arizona, with state agencies, the
Arizona governor’s office, the Phoenix Indian Center, and tribal leaders in policy
analysis, resource development, and training and technical assistance.
Contact: tmorris@nativepublicmedia.org

Steven Renderos, Media Justice Organizer, Mainstreet Project

Steven Renderos leads Main Street Project's media justice and community
building efforts, including the Justice 2.0 training project and our collaborative
work with the nationwide Media Action Grassroots Network (MAG-Net).
Contact: steven@mainstreetproject.org

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Ivan Roman, Executive Director, National Association of Hispanic Journalists

Iván Román joined the National Association of Hispanic Journalists as executive

director in September 2003 after working as a professional journalist for nearly two
decades. From the 2,000-member association’s offices in Washington, D.C.,
Román oversees its many educational and professional development programs, and
its growing advocacy efforts aimed at getting more Latinos into newsrooms across
the country and fighting for more fair and balanced coverage of the nation’s
Latinos.
Contact: iroman@nahj.org

James Rucker, Executive Director, ColorOfChange.org

James Rucker is co-founder of ColorOfChange.org. Prior, James served as Director

of Grassroots Mobilization for MoveOn.org Political Action and Moveon.org Civic
Action and was instrumental in developing and executing on fundraising,
technology, and campaign strategies. Prior to joining MoveOn, James worked in
various roles in the software industry in the San Francisco and has provided
coaching and technology consulting for other start-up ventures.
Contact: james@colorofchange.org

Chancellar Williams, Program and Outreach, Media and Democracy Coalition

Chancellar (Chance) Williams entered the media reform movement as a volunteer

for his local community radio station several years ago. This experience shaped his
belief that the media system can transform and empower local communities, and
led him to pursue his Maters degree in Public Service which he completed in April
of 2009.
Contact: cwilliams@media-democracy.net

Andrea Isabel Quijada, Executive Director of the Media Literacy Project

Andrea delivers media literacy presentations and trainings -- in New Mexico, across
the USA and internationally -- at professional and student conferences, at community
forums, on college campuses, and in middle schools and high schools. She leads
workshops for students, teachers, media activists, community organizers and health
professionals.
Contact: andrea@medialiteracyproject.org

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