| FEATURED SALES ITEM |
| The Buying of the President 2004 |
By
Charles Lewis
The Buying of the President 2004 reveals how
the process of choosing a president has moved from the voting booth
to the auction block, and highlights the special
interests that heavily invest in the politicians seeking the nation's
highest office. |
This book is a must read for anyone with an interest
in learning how our democracy really works.
Buy it here for only $14! |
Click
here for more great deals!
| MAILING
LISTS |
|
| Join
Media Tank's
General Announcement mailing list (moderated)
|
| Join
Media Tank's
Media Activist Discussion list (unmoderated)
|
|
|
|
| EVENTS |
| From
movie screenings to art exhibits to public forums with FCC commisioners,
Media Tank events are both fun and informative, all in the name
of spreading the word about Media Democracy. To learn about upcoming
MT events sign up for our Announement mailing list (see sidebar)
or check our front page for updates. Click the links below to
learn about events we've hosted in the past, and check back to
make sure you don't miss the next one!
|
| Note:
we are currently working on updating our archives, this is NOT
an exhaustive list of MT events. |
| Speakers |
One
way in which Media Tank helps educate the public about the media
issues that confront our community is by giving them a chance to
hear from the people who know the issues the best. Thru Media Tank's
Speaker Series  and
other programs, we have brought a number of world-renowned speakers
to Philadelphia. If you have a suggestion for a speaker you would
like to see in Philly send an email to info@mediatank.org.
To see who we've brought in the past, scroll down. |
| |
| Joe
DiStefano |
Apr.
6, 2005 |
 Award-winning
Philadelphia Inquirer business news reporter Joe DiStefano
takes a probing and rare look into the nation's largest cable and
internet company and its ruling family — the Robertses. Based
on over two years of meticulous research, DiStefano has written
a must-read history of the cable industry and its dominant player.
Regardless of whether you have Comcast service, you'll get a sense
of what's in store for the cable industry, cable technology, and
how it could affect your TV, internet and other communications. |
| |
| Jane
Akre and Steve Wilson |
Oct.
24, 2004 |
|  An
Inside Look at Corporate Journalism
with FOX News whistleblowers
Jane Akre and Steve Wilson
----------
On
Thursday, October 14th Media Tank hosted former FOX News anchors
Jane Akre and Steve Wilson at the Connelly Lecture Hall at the
University of the Arts in Philadelphia as they gave their first-hand
account of censorship and industry intimidation, Akre and Wilson
became the first journalists to sue under the Whistleblowers Act
after they were fired for refusing to distort the news. Their
story has recently been featured in the documentary "The
Corporation," and the book "Into the Buzzsaw,"
and now Media Tank will bring it to you live in Philadelphia!
Press
Release: COST RISES EVEN HIGHER FOR FOX NEWS WHISTLEBLOWERS
Click
here for more information on this event
|
| |
| Amy
Goodman |
May
11, 2004 |
| Award-winning
journalist and acclaimed host of Democracy Now!, Amy
Goodman, spoke to a full and enthusiastic house about her new book
The Exception to the Rulers: Exposing Oily Politicians,
War Profiteers and the Media that Love Them. The event was held
at and co-sponsored by the Free Library of Philadelphia. To learn
more about Amy and her work, visit the Democracy
Now! online. |
| |
| Charles
Lewis |
March
31, 2004 |
| Media
Tank hosted Charles Lewis, founder of the Center forPublic Integrity
and author of The
Buying of the President 2004, to speak at the Friends
Meeting House at 4th and Arch sts. Lewis, one of the nation's
top investigative reporters, discussed how the process of choosing
a president has moved from the voting booth to the auction block.
He spoke about the special interests that invest vast sums of
money in the politicians seeking the nation's highest office,
including the media industry. As an investigative journalist with
years of experience, Lewis had much to say about the corruption
of the electoral process as the role of the media in an election.
To learn more about issues that the mainstream media ignore visit
the Center
for Public Integrity online. Click
here to buy The Buying of the President 2004, a must
read before hitting the booths in November. |
| |
| Patrick
J. Sloyan |
March
11, 2003 |
| Media
Tank hosted Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Patrick J. Sloyan
to speak at the Mandell Theater at Drexel University as a part
of our ongoing Speaker Series. Sloyan, who was a correspondent
during the first Gulf War, gave a talk entitled "Media, Censorship
and War." |
| |
| Noam
Chomsky |
Oct.
4, 2002 |
| more
info coming soon! |
| |
» back
to top
| Conferences
& Forums |
| Media
Tank has put together several conferences and forums that
provide a time and space to delve more deeply into an especially
relevent issue or group of issues. |
| |
| representin'
youth |
May
2004 |
| This
conference, hosted by Media Tank, was designed to address issues
surrounding youth and the media. Thru workshops, forums and film
screenings, the participants confronted specifically the representations
of youth by the mainstream media as well as effective ways of
using media in youth organizing. To see the schedule of events
for this conference click
here. |
| |
| Creative
Rights Conference |
Oct.
2003 |
| Media
Tank's Creative Rights Conference brought together some of the
nation's foremost policy experts, academics, activists and artists
in order to help people learn about copyright, intellectual property,
fair use and the public domain. The wide range of guests allowed
for interesting analysis of the intersections of art, media policy
and law. The conference featured both talks with policy experts,
art exhibits and film screenings as well as hands-on workshops
that allowed participants to create their own "illegal art."
To learn more about the Creative Rights Conference, who was there
and what went down, visit the official Conference
website. |
| |
| Illegal
Art Extravaganza |
Oct.
2003 |
| Along
with the Nexus Gallery and Film at the Prince, Media Tank hosted
the Illegal Art Extravaganza as a part of our broader Creative
Rights Conference. Today's stricter copyright laws make the "borrowing"
of other artists' work, which has spawned whole genres of music
and art in the past (see: Jazz or Hip-hop), against the law. The
Illegal Art Extravaganza and its centerpiece, the Illegal Art
Exhibit, showcased art which, by challenging convention, has found
itself situated on the boundaries of legality. The Extravaganza
was a huge success marked by very well-attended exhibit-opening
and closing party. To learn more about illegal art and what went
on, check out the
official page. |
| |
| Public
Forum on Media Ownership |
May
7, 2003 |
|
On
May 7, 2003, Media Tank held a Public Forum on Media Ownership
with Federal Communications Commissioner Michael J. Copps
at the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg School for
Communication. The event drew a diverse audience of several
hundred Philadelphia-area residents, as well as many who listened
to the live online audio feed. Media Tank also presented Commissioner
Copps with his very own U.S. Media Democracy Tour t-shirt (available
here!) in honor of his "whistlestop tour"
to raise these important issues in cities across the country.
Click
here to go to the official page for the event.
|
| |
» back to top
| Film
Screenings |
|
Media Tank film screenings give Philadelphians the opportunity to
see exceptional films (and sometimes hear from the filmmakers) about
media issues that otherwise they would probably never see. |
| |
| The
Future of Food:
Screeing and Discussion |
June, 18, 2005 |
 If
You Eat Food, You Need to See this Film!
From
farmers whose lives and livelihoods are negatively impacted to
the little-known effects on human and environmental health, this
film shows viewers why the introduction of genetically altered
crops into our food supply is cause for alarm, and explores the
safer, more sustainable alternatives to large-scale industrial
agriculture.
More
info...
|
| |
Weapons
of Mass Deception: Inside of the War You Never Saw
|
May, 5, 2005 |
 There
were two wars going on in Iraq. One was fought with military force.
The other was fought alongside it with cameras, satellites, armies
of journalists and propaganda techniques. One war was rationalized
as an effort to find and disarm WMDs, Weapons of Mass Destruction;
the other was carried out by even more powerful WMDs —Weapons
of Mass Deception.
More
info... |
| |
Hijacking
Catastrophe: Screening and Discussion
|
Sept,
9, 2004 |
|  You've
seen Fahrenheit... now see the other 9/11 movie!
This
new documentary from the Media Education Foundation goes beyond
the media's flag-waving and fluff to examine how the trauma of
the 9/11 attacks was used to advance a radical neo-conservative
foreign policy agenda while rolling back civil liberties and social
programs at home. Media
Tank screened this movie to a sizeable crowd at the Friends Center
on 15th & Cherry. The screening was followed by small group
discussions about film and the broader issues it addressed.
More
info... |
| |
| Cautionary
Tales: A Night of Camp & Propaganda |
Sept.
18, 2003 |
| Those
brave enough to leave their homes on the night of Hurricane Isabel
had the opportunity to join Media Tank at the Friends Meeting House
for a fun night of movies that are at once dark and incredibly humorous.
This unique program presents public domain films from US Government
and industry archives, cut together with modern social commentary
to offer a fascinating look at American democracy, freedom and consumer
culture--then and now--that you won't see in the mainstream media. |
| |
| Counting
on Democracy |
Oct.
13, 2002 |
| Investigative
journalist and executive executive editor of MediaChannel.org,
Danny Schecter presented his film, "Counting on Democracy"
at the Philadelphia Ethical Society. The film documents the disenfranchisement
of voters in Florida during the 2000 Presidential Election and the
aftermath. He specifically addressed the noted absence of this story
in the mainstream press, despite its deep implications. To learn
more about Schecter visit MediaChannel.org.
|
| |
» back to top
| Press
Conferences |
| |
| Grassroots
Cable Cable Campaign Launch |
June
30, 2004 |
| A
press conference held in front of Comcast headquarters to announce
the launch of a Grassroots Cable Campaign. Media Tank is joined
in this campaign by a coalition of groups including Philadelphia
Community Access Coalition, Communications Workers of America, Jobs
With Justice, Kensington Welfare Rights Union, Coalition of Labor
Union Women, and PennPIRG. For
more info click here. |
| |
» back to top
| Workshops
& other events |
| |
| A
Community Reportback from the NMRC |
Dec.
2 , 2003 |
| On
December 2, 2004 Media Tank held discussion of the National
Media Reform Conference which took place Nov. 7-9 and featured
presenters such as Bill Moyers, Al Franken, Naomi Klein, AFL-CIO's
John Sweeney, Juan Gonzalez, Amy Goodman, Robert McChesney and
several Philly media activists. Representatives of the Future
of Music Coalition, Listening Project, Prometheus Radio Project
and Media Tank led a discussion about what is going on in the
national media reform/democracy/justice movement(s) and how
we can build on this momentum in the coming year. Click
here to learn more about the conference. |
| |
| Community
workshops on the FCC Media Ownership Rules Review |
Dec.
18, 2002 |
Media
Tank and the Prometheus Radio Project held special free training
sessions to learn more about the FCC and how to participate
in their landmark proceeding on media ownership. The program's
focus was to guide citizens through the quick and easy process
of filing your comments. Click
here to view the press release
|
| |
| Reclaiming
the Public Sphere: The Independent Media Movement |
Nov.
18, 2002 |
| Media
Tank hosted this event in conjunction with White Dog Cafe's
Table Talk series. It featured Edward S. Herman and representatives
from MT, Prometheus Radio Project, the Independent Media Center
of Philadelphia, and the Philadelphia Community Access Coalition.
For
more info click here. |
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» back to top |
|
| RESOURCE
CENTERS |
|
| Student
Organizing
Learn
about Media Tank's pilot student group - Students for Media
Education and Reform (SMEAR).
|
| Media
Ownership
Background, articles, and other info about the Federal Communications
Commission's media ownership review and media consolidation. |
| Media
& War
Links and downloadable resources examining the relationship
between the media, government and war-related industries. |
|
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