[URPE] media Conference

[Dean Baker]

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GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENT
Please distribute widely to Scholars in Law, Communications and Media 
Studies, Information Studies, Political Science, Sociology, History, 
American Studies, and more….

*Free Press* and the *Illinois Initiative for Media Policy Research 
(IIMPR)* are hosting the kick-off meeting of the
*/ACADEMIC BRAIN TRUST
/**CONNECTING SCHOLARS TO MEDIA ACTIVISTS AND POLICYMAKERS
*
/Kick-Off Brainstorming Session
Thursday, May 12, 2005
/4-7 PM
Millennium Hotel
St. Louis, Missouri

Session Held in Advance of the
*/2^nd National Conference for Media Reform (May 13-15)
/*Featuring FCC members: Michael Copps, Jonathan Adelstein
Members of Congress: Diane Watson, Bernie Sanders
Also: Jim Hightower, Amy Goodman, Naomi Klein, Al Franken, Juan 
Gonzalez, Bill Fletcher, Jr., Janine Jackson, Laura Flanders
Hundreds of journalists, artists and independent media producers
And: More media activists than you can shake a stick at
For details: http://www.freepress.net/conference/

*/WHY DO WE NEED AN/* */ACADEMIC BRAIN TRUST/?
*
Collectively, academic researchers and scholars across many disciplines 
comprise a grossly underutilized wealth of experience and knowledge that 
is desperately needed right now in policy fights across the country and 
across the globe. As public interest advocates and activists wage 
lonely, under-funded campaigns around public broadcasting, media 
ownership, Internet access, global media policy, copyright, 
commercialism, and other important issues, there has been a noticeable 
lack of input from the considerable talent in the field of communication 
and media studies. It is a weak spot for those committed to improving 
the media system, and it is a weak spot for the academic community as a 
whole.

The time to engage the larger scholarly community is now. A number of 
crucial policy debates over the next few years will define our media 
system for a generation, and have tremendous effect upon our democratic 
culture. As scholars and researchers, it is our responsibility to 
personally engage with these debates and to assist citizen participation 
in deliberations on media policies that are critical to the health of 
our democracy. To encourage civic engagement around these issues, it is 
imperative that we jumpstart media scholarship in the public interest, 
and work to link our best research and our research skills with the public.

The Academic Brain Trust is open to scholars from all fields employing 
all possible methodologies. It is open to faculty and grad students. It 
assumes no particular political views, only a belief that the crucial 
media policies that shape our media system should be the result of 
widespread informed public participation, and that scholars have an 
important role in the process. *Although Free Press and IIMPR are 
hosting the kick-off session, the future of the Academic Brain Trust 
will be determined by those who participate and take leadership of this 
important opportunity.
*
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/OVER 50 SCHOLARS HAVE COMMITTED TO ATTENDING THE KICK-OFF SESSION OF 
THE */ACADEMIC BRAIN TRUST/*
PLEASE JOIN US!

For more information on the *KICK-OFF BRAINSTORMING SESSION* of the 
*ACADEMIC BRAIN TRUST *visit our website: http://academicbraintrust.org/
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Graduate students and junior faculty, particularly women and persons 
from communities of color in the U.S., are encouraged to apply for */_a 
limited number of travel grants that may be available_, /*depending on 
the timely receipt of applications,*/ /*to attend the kick-off session 
of the Academic Brain Trust /_and_/ the 2^nd National Conference for 
Media Reform.

(These travel grants are different from the scholarships Free Press is 
providing to the 2nd National Conference for Media Reform. The deadline 
for applying for Free Press scholarships was March 15, 2005. The 
Academic Brain Trust travel grants are specifically for graduate 
students and junior faculty. People are permitted to apply for both, but 
can only accept one.)

The deadline to qualify for these travel grants is _Monday April 4 by 
6PM_ eastern time. Click here to learn more and apply: 
http://academicbraintrust.org/