The Media Justice Fund is closed as of Dec. 31, 2009

Introduction
Launched in March 2003 with the support of the Ford Foundation,the Media Justice Fund (MJF) has made tremendous strides towards establishing itself as a pioneer - both as a grantmaker and as a change agent helping to shape the broader world of media justice, advocacy and reform. In addition,the MJFadvances the Funding Exchange's mission, connecting social justice with issues of media accountability, infrastructure and policy. As such, the MJF supports community efforts to change media policy to broadly include federal, state and local regulations as well as corporate practices; projects to build and maintain community controlled media infrastructure, and/or campaigns for corporate accountability.

Media justice is not new but comes out of larger movements for justice and developing new visions for media content and structure within race, class, and gender conscious frameworks. The MJF's initiatives come at a moment when calls for democratic reform of the FCC at the federal level resonate with middle-class, often white activists who have not yet worked on media policy from a social justice perspective, while another wing, often working locally in low- income communities and communities of color more closely aligns with media justice. Hence, the Funding Exchange's thoughtful stewardship shaped the MJF's guidelines and determined three strategic areas in which the Media Justice Fund would concentrate its grantmaking: Community-Media Collaborations, Immediate Response and Toolkits.

Decreasing the Gap

Historically, the groups that have worked on media policy at a national level are those that are based in the Washington, DC "beltway". These groups readily have access to decision makers for lobbying purposes, and therefore have garnered a larger share of available funding for media and telecommunication issues. At the same time, smaller grassroots organizations working on media policy issues at both local and regional levels, receive less financial support and less recognition of their work. For the Media Justice Fund, strategically moving resources to these smaller, grassroots organizations is a key success indicator. The MJF continues to make connections between traditional social justice organizers and activists and other funders who want to broader endow the media and telecommunications fields.

Goals

In its inception, the Media Justice Fund was seen as an opportunity to help shape an emerging field and facilitate stronger connections between media organizations and broader social justice organizers and activists. Specifically, the goals included:

• To support (1) work carried out by media activist and reform groups that organize around social justice principles and (2) work carried out by social justice organizations that engage in media activism and reform as a component of their core work through strategic funding.
• To impact Media and/or Telecommunications policy; expand and/or establish infrastructure within a given community; or promote and advocate corporate and industry media accountability encouraging collaboration between organizations with a media focus and organizations with a broader social justice perspective.
• To facilitate the creation of regional collaborations of media justice and social justice organizers and activists by involving Funding Exchange member funds in the overall process.

Strategically Directing Resources

Community Media Collaborations (CMC)

Since it's inception, the Media Justice Fund has completed a successful initial round of funding in its three strategic areas. The MJF has helped to shape the goals and extend the parameters of media justice work through leading discussions amongst key constituency of social justice organizers, activists, policymakers and funders. The MJF made a first round of grants under each of the Media Justice Fund's Community Media Collaboration grants categories.  The Fund has granted $194,250 to thirteen organizations for Community-Media Collaborations grants in 2004 and 2005.

In spring 2005, the MJF revised and reissued guidelines to build cooperation between longtime social justice organizers in communities of color. These guidelines affirm the MJF's support of activists organizing media justice initiatives that make large media corporations more accountable and to force federal and local regulators to make Internet, radio, and other communications and broadcast technologies more accessible to marginalized communities.

Toolkits

In l2004 and 2005, the MJF granted $111,000 to thirteen activist organizations for the creation of Toolkits. The Toolkits grants served to consolidate education and organizing efforts to make them more accessible to grassroots movements. In particular, this grant supported the development and/or distribution of toolkits that help move the public to: (1) Address the impact of media regulation on grassroots communities; (2) Promote media literacy and/or media activism; and (3) Support or create local independent media infrastructure.

The grantees proposals included step-by-step guides for organizing key constituents around media justice issues. This may include documentation of successful local activist models which can be replicated. Also, dramatic presentations portraying current media dangers in forms which can used to initiate actions in grassroots communities. There were also How-to guides on creating or maintaining community media infrastructures and How-to guides for local groups to affect media regulatory policy.

Training kits aid social justice groups in use of new media to bring about social change. Programs submitted proposals for re-tooling/updating of previously created organizing or educational materials.

Immediate Response Grants (IRG)

The 2004 FCC hearings were a critical organizing opportunity for those working on media policy issues. Through the use of the Immediate Response Grants (IRG), the MJF helped mobilize hundreds of grassroots activists around the FCC hearings and other topical media and telecommunications policies through the Immediate Response Grants that allowed organizations to direct resources towards these historic hearings that they otherwise would not have been able.

This strategic use of the IRG, which are explicitly flexible to facilitate timely and direct resources towards a specific goal, was able to increase public attendance at the FCC hearings. In large measure, it was the large public turnout that contributed to defeating the proposed FCC rules to further deregulate the media and telecommunications industry.

The MJF recognized that the FCC hearings were pivotal because they allowed local, social justice organizations located in communities where hearings were held to mobilize their base around new, immediate media and telecommunication issues. Greater, the IRG made it possible for activists and organizers to engage their base in a political education process that connected media justice to their existing mission.

Regional Meetings

The MJF hosted regional meetings around the country to introduce the Media Justice Fund, connect with potential grantees, and help the MJF better appreciate the varied, regional differences that exist in the media and telecommunications field. While these regional meetings did not generate a large number of grantees for the Media Justice Fund, their significance was three-fold. First, they allowed the Fund to survey different areas of the country to assess if there were groups that fell into the parameters the Fund envisioned for it's grantmaking purposes. Second, they allowed a wider range of groups to learn about the Fund than would have been possible simply by releasing the Rrquest For Proposal. Finally, the regional meetings provided an opportunity for local groups in those areas to explore the possibility of collaborating with each other for a media justice campaign, something they otherwise might not have considered.

In 2005, the MJF team conducted research on media and telecommunication issues and organizations around the United States. Specifically, we were interested in community-based initiatives closely tied to a local constituency of activist and organizers. In turn, we will convene interested parties to help build on existing community concerns and initial organizing. Subsequently, we will facilitate four community meetings based on our coordinated efforts to access and engage with local social justice activists and organizers and diverse ethnic and independent press outlets to help facilitate the creation of a responsive local agenda specific to the community's needs and issues.

For example, we hosted our next community meeting in Austin, TX on May 10, 2005 for two reasons: (1) because of the vibrancy of the community media, technology and social justice work there and (2) due to the urgency surrounding the current telecom/wireless bills circulating in the State legislature (including House Bill 789). The MJF-sponsored community meeting brought together interested individuals and organizations to address community members' core concerns. It elevated issues such as equitable public access to wireless communication while supporting organizers' efforts to secure greater access to, and fair representation in the governance of communications infrastructure.

Additional, host sites for include Knoxville, TN, New York, NY, Washington, DC and Honolulu, HA.

Outreach

The Media Justice Fund's ability to marshal resources, with particular attention of educating and enlisting other funders to increase the grantmaking in this area, remains important. The MJF elevated issues of equality and fairness while increaing the profile of media justice organizing in the funding community through presentations at the Neighborhood Funders Group (GFEM), the National Network of Grantmakers (NNG), the 29^th Annual Community Radio Conference, and the National Conference on Media Reform. These presentations afford the MJF the opportunity to gauge the willingness of other funders to direct resources towards media justice issues.

To further these efforts, we are developing a comprehensive communication and information campaign, featuring key tools and resources gathered from the field and complemented with new materials. For example, our online presence will include an Internet web page and email listserves to support and facilitate on-the-ground organizing for our constituencies. To date, we have posted information and courses of action on the Funding Exchange website regarding PBS' national office decision to pull "Postcards from Buster" from the affiliate program schedule and topical literature on media and telecommunications policy and advocacy.