ACT NOW TO OPEN PUBLIC AIRWAVES TO UNDERSERVED!                                                                                                                       On Tuesday November 4th the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is supposed to vote to open up vacant TV airwaves for public use.  This is an important decision that will effect many rural and poor communities across the United States, but the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) which lobbies for large commercial broadcasters is trying to keep the vote from happening.  They are pressuring Congress to pressure the FCC not to vote on November 4th.  Media Justice groups from across the US are asking allies to contact their reps and the BEFORE November 4th to urge them not to stand in the way of the FCC vote.    More information

FCC RELEASES FIRST LIST OF GROUPS FROM
THE 2007 NCE FILING WINDOW
In 2007, supplied with a short window of time, the Media Justice Fund has provisioned six diverse organizations to directly apply for and support groups that hope to acquire  Non-Commercial (NCE) full power radio licenses. These organizations include Southeastern Prison Education, Advocacy, & Reformation, Inc. (SPEAR) based in Mississippi, Comite Pro Rescate y Desarrollo de Vieques (CPRDV) in Puerto Rico, United Houma Nation and Public Digital Urban Broadcasters (PDUB) in Louisiana, Voices for Justice Inc. in North Carolina, and Ka Hoku o Ka Pakipika based in Hawaii.  More...

KNOWLEDGE EXCHANGE PROGRAM (KEP)
The Knowledge Exchange Program is a collaboration between Consumer’s Union, a national consumer advocacy organization, and the Media Justice Fund.  The idea was born from discussion about the need to identify the community impacts of national media policy, as a critical step in building a more just and diverse media landscape.  The Knowledge Exchange Program provides a vehicle for both grassroots and national advocates to learn from each other, and to explore opportunities for creating common agendas.  The most recent Program was hosted by the Center for Media Justice.
For more information, click here.
Article about The Knowledge Exchange Program by The Rockwood Leadership Program

THE DIGITAL TV TRANSITION

MEDIA JUSTICE FUND IN THE NATIONAL CONFERENCE FOR MEDIA REFORM IN MINNAPOLIS, MN, JUNE 6-8, 2008
MJF contributed to the conference in following ways:
-    MJF organized a delegation of the Funding Exchange, which consisted of 12 people from the 6 Member Foundations and the national office.  Each participant agreed that the conference was powerful and energizing.
-    MJF organized the Media Justice Breakfast on June 6 to create a space and time to network among media justice activists, scholars, and advocates.  MJF also presented the Outstanding Leadership Award to Malkia Cyril, the Executive Director of the Center for Media Justice.  Nearly a hundred people attended the event in order to honor Malkia and show their solidarity with the Media Justice movement.
-    MJF presented at the workshop “Raising Change for Making Change: Fundraising for Better Media” to educate and inform participants on the work of the Funding Exchange and provide useful advice for foundation grantees.
-    MJF set up an exhibition booth in collaboration with MAG-Net to promote and distribute the work of media justice communities.

SEARCH DIRECTORY: MEDIA JUSTICE COMMUNITY
The Media Justice Fund of the Funding Exchange is proud to present a new search directory: MEDIA JUSTICE COMMUNITY.

During the past few years, many social, cultural, media and community-based organizations have become more committed to the concept of just and fair media and telecommunications. The heightened awareness of how media affects our daily lives has propelled us to fight for better systems.

This search directory is designed to assist you in seeing the landscape of the entire media justice community and building solidarity within the community to strengthen the media justice movement.

• FULL LIST: You can sort alphabetically by the name of the organization and state. This will give you an overall picture of the current media justice community.
• SEARCH LIST: You can search for organization(s) by organization name, state, focus, community, scope, and relationship to the Media Justice Fund.
• GIS MAP: This is a map from which you can see all the organizations by state.
• CONTACT US: If you have any questions or wish to add your organization, please email us.

MEDIA JUSTICE FUND'S 2007 NATIONAL GRANTMAKING
Now celebrating its fourth year of grantmaking, the Media Justice Fund of the Funding Exchange is pleased toannounce that 11 grants totaling $240,000 have been awarded to media andsocial justice organizations from the 2007 Capacity Building (CB)andCommunity Media Collaboration (CMC) Grants.

An activist-advised grantmaking panel, comprised of community media and
social justice activists, carefully reviewed proposals and awarded grants
to the outstanding projects.

PLEASE SEE GRANTS LIST.

NEW PUBLICATION: IMAGINING THE (UN)THINKABLE

The Media Justice Fund of the Funding Exchange        
explores the changing landscape in its new journal, Imagining the (UN)Thinkable: Community Media Over the Next Five Years.  This collection of essays pushes the boundaries of current research on media policy and provides critical information on the potential power of the internet, radio, and community-access TV to enhance social justice movements.  Written from perspectives of people of color, low-income people, women and other marginalized communities, the report offers useful tools and strategies for media justice advocates.

To download the document, please click here.
If anyone is interested in receiving a hard copy, please contact hyejung.park@fex.org.

THE MEDIA JUSTICE FUND OF THE FUNDING EXCHANGE
RECEIVES $1.5 MILLION FOR NATIONAL MEDIA JUSTICE INITIATIVE

New York, NY (June 6, 2007) - The Media Justice Fund of the Funding Exchange has been awarded $1.5 million over two years by the Ford Foundation to continue its grantmaking through the National Office and the 15 community foundations that form the Funding Exchange National Network.
    The award is the one of the largest single grants by a major foundation in the emerging social movement known as media justice. 
    The Media Justice Fund was founded on the belief that a more equitable distribution of media and communication technologies is a critical step toward social and economic justice. To that end, the Fund makes grants to nonprofit organizations that are working to reform media policies, establish community media infrastructures, and promote accountability by media corporations. A core focus is on supporting the activism and leadership of communities that are traditionally marginalized by mass media.
    “Thanks to the Media Justice Fund, we now have the ability to communicate consistently with a sizeable portion of our membership, painstakingly built over more then a quarter century,” said Marlen Torres of Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste, a union of treeplanters and farmworkers dedicated to improving conditions for agricultural workers.  A recent grant from the Fund helped the group to build a low-power FM radio station that reaches thousands of people within a five-mile radius of Woodburn, Oregon, and many more via the internet. Added Torres, “The station is a critical link to long-term consciousness-raising and education for immigrants and farmworkers”
    Distinguished from traditional philanthropic institutions, the Funding Exchange member funds involve local activists in grantmaking as well as in governance of their organizations.  Through close contact with community members, each foundation stays connected to the pulse of their grassroots efforts.
    Since its founding in 2003, the Media Justice Fund has given away more than $850,000 to 110 grassroots media activism groups from Appalachia to Texas to Hawaii. The Fund has also initiated a total of 17 local and regional convenings (including ones in New Orleans, Texas, Hawaii) and several Southern states.

The Media Justice Fund of the Funding Exchange is seeking proposals for Capacity Building and Community Media Collaboration grants.

Deadline: Applications may be submitted by email or ground mail.
Applications must be postmarked by July 9, 2007.

For Capacity Building Grants
Check http://www.fex.org/content/mjf.php?pid=143

For Community Media Collaboration Grants
Check http://www.fex.org/content/mjf.php?pid=39

Hawai'i Peoples Fund Media Justice Conference
Saturday, March 17, 2007

- to increase awareness of media justice
- to understand local challenge
- to provide opportunities for networking
- to offer the potential for collaboration
- to explore possibilities for community action

For more information, please click here.

Southeast Media Justice Conference
February 2 - 3, 2007
Knoxville Hilton Hotel

The Appalachian Community Fund and the Georgia-based Fund for Southern Communities are co-sponsoring a community-based gathering to share resources, information, and strategies around media justice work in Central Appalachia and the South. We welcome this great chance to raise the level of understanding and action around media justice in our region.

This gathering will bring together people from organizations in Georgia, South Carolina. North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia and Virginia who are doing social change/social justice work who want to better understand corporate media control and media justice issues. Our aim is to expand understanding of media justice work happening in the South and Appalachia, to better understand the issues around media control and media justice, and to explore places for further work and collaboration. We will examine expanding access to media for people not traditionally included in corporate media in this country and we'll discuss models and strategies.

Southeast Media Jusice Conference Details
When: Friday, February 2 at noon with lunch and ends after lunch at 1 PM on Saturday, February 3rd.
Where: Knoxville Hilton Hotel, 501 W. Church Ave., Knoxville,TN

More information and registration form

Deep in My Heart: The South Speaks the Language of Media Justice by Malkia Cyril


The Funding Exchange’s Delegation to the National Conference
for Media Reform

The Media Justice Fund of the Funding Exchange (FEX) has organized a delegation consisting of the National Office and ten Member Funds (North Star Fund, Haymarket People’s Fund, Wisconsin Community Fund, The Hawai’i People’s Fund, Liberty Hill, Fund for Southern Communities, Appalachian Community Fund, Fund for Santa Barbara, Crossroads Fund, and McKenzie River Gathering Foundation), which is to attend the National Conference for Media Reform in Memphis, TN, January 12 – 14, 2007.  The delegation, partially funded by Grantmakers for Film and Electronic Media (GFEM), will learn about the media reform/media justice movement at the local, national, and international level, and discuss strategies and tactics to change media policies in the service of social justice and human rights.

Regional and Local Media Justice Convenings in New Mexico and New Orleans

In 2005, the MJF developed a new model for community convenings in which MJF staff supported local activists to form a collective community agenda. Adopting the model, MJF initiated a New Mexico regional media justice community convening on November 3rd in Albuquerque, NM and November 16th in New Orleans, LA, where Native Americans, migrant workers, and Katrina survivors raised the issue of media accountability as they searched for alternative outlets to voice their opinions and needs.  Thanks to the hard work of local/regional organizers and committed local/regional organizing teams, two events marked by energetic participation were successfully held.  Please see New Mexico report and New Orleans report for further information.

Scholarships Available for 2007 National Conference for Media Reform
Apply at http://www.freepress.net/conference/=scholarships07
Deadline: November 6, 2006

The third National Conference for Media Reform is set for Jan. 12 - 14, 2007 in Memphis, Tennessee. The event will be an exciting, inspiring three-day gathering for people who are concerned about the state of our media and committed to working for change. The conference will convene more than 2,000 activists, educators, media makers, journalists, policymakers and concerned citizens to discuss how to create a better media system.

Free Press is committed to supporting increased participation by people from constituencies traditionally under-represented in media policy work, particularly people of color, youth and grassroots organizers. We also seek broad geographic representation. We will prioritize scholarship applications from individuals who contribute to the diversity of conference participants.

For more information on the conference program, speakers, and up-to-date conference details, please visit www.freepress.net/conference.

"Democracy, Social Justice and Media Reform: A Baseline Study of the Emerging Field of Media Po

licy, " - a publication of Grantmakers in Film and Electronic Media

The survey and summary report, produced by Blueprint Research & Design, Inc., is a baseline study of media policy funders and nonprofits work

ing to influence media policy today. It is especially important as a view of this emerging field--illuminating issues and the strategies used to address them.

Click here to download the study 

The Media Justice Fund of the Funding Exchange (FEX) has allocated $352,000 in support of local efforts to expand the Media Justice movement across the country.

September 7, 2006

 (New York, NY) – The Media Justice Fund of the Funding Exchange is pleased to announce the award of $352,000 to 11 members of the Funding Exchange National Network for regranting to media justice organizations in their communities.  

Click here for more details. 

The Media Justice Fund of the Funding Exchange announces 9 grants totaling $140,000 to media and social justice organizations in 2006.

July 31, 2006

 (New York, NY) - Now celebrating its third year of grantmaking, the Media Justice Fund of the Funding Exchange is pleased to announce that 9 grants totaling $140,000 have been awarded to media and social justice organizations as 2006 Community Media Collaboration (CMC) grants. CMC grants support campaigns that change the structure of the media and expands a community’s right to use and be fairly represented within it. They support projects that work directly with community members to increase the voice and influence of the community within the media.  Projects include substantive collaborations between media advocacy groups and community activists organizing for social justice.

An activist-advised grantmaking panel, comprised of community media and social justice activists, carefully reviewed proposals and awarded grants to the following outstanding projects. 

Click here to see the list of the grantees.

Media Justice Fund Evaluation Booklet: Strategic Grantmaking & Grassroots Organizing for Media Justice

This report examines the history and effectiveness of the Media Justice Fund during its first two years of existence.  The research undertaken for this evaluation includes three components: an investigation of the broad field of media justice, including a review of the few but important articles written on the subject; interviews with organizers and experts in the field, nationwide; and a series of organizational profiles highlighting the work of some of the Media Justice Fund’s grantees.

What is the Media Justice Fund?                                                  

The Media Justice Fund (MJF) is a new initiative operating within the Funding Exchange National Network to make local and regional media justice grants. The MJF is grounded in the belief that social and economic justice will not be realized without the equitable redistribution and control of media and communication technologies. The MJF supports leadership of people of color, low-income families, LBGT and youth, working within marginalized communities to organize around media and communication technologies to affect media accountability, infrastructure and policy change