CALL FOR PARTICIPATION
Media Diversity: Meanings, Metrics and the Public Interest
Meeting Sponsored by the Ford Foundation
Submission Deadline: June 15, 2003
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is in the midst of its biennial
review of media ownership regulations. Existing rules limiting television
and radio station ownership, as well as cross-ownership of newspapers and
broadcast stations, are under consideration for possible reduction or
elimination. Congress requires the FCC to repeat this process every two
years and eliminate any regulations that no longer serve the public
interest.
One of the key issues underlying the ownership proceeding is if, or to what
extent, the current structure of our media system effectively promotes the
diversity of sources, outlets, and viewpoints essential to an informed
public and a robust EURoemarketplace of ideas.EUR Another issue is
whether
our media system provides sufficient content and services that address the
needs and interests of local communities (i.e., EURoelocalismEUR).
These
diversity and localism principles are long-standing guideposts for
determining the extent to which our media effectively serve the public
interest.
Efforts to answer the questions of whether the media environment is
sufficiently diverse, or effectively serves local interests and concerns
face the challenge of producing objective and reliable empirical
evidence. The courts have frequently demanded such evidence and the FCC
has often struggled to provide it. Objective and reliable systems of
measuring diversity and localism in media markets could play an important
role not only in media policymaking, but also in any efforts to assess the
performance of various sectors of our media system.
The Ford Foundation's Knowledge, Creativity, and Freedom program seeks to
foster a dialogue on this subject that incorporates the input and opinions
of a diverse array of interested stakeholders. The Foundation is
therefore sponsoring a one-day meeting on the subject of diversity and
localism measurement for media policymaking and for assessing the
performance of both commercial and noncommercial media on issues related to
media and diversity.
The Ford Foundation invites scholars, advocates, activists, and media and
policy professionals engaged in developing concepts, methods, or data
relevant to this issue area to submit a short letter which lays out your
interest in participating in a conversation about policies affecting media
& diversity (broadly defined). These letters should not exceed 1,000 words,
and they should include a brief biographical sketch (no more than 500 words
please) as an attachment. Authors of accepted letters will be invited to
participate in a meeting during summer 2003 at the Foundation. Viewpoints
and papers presented at the meeting will be included in a report to be
issued by the Ford Foundation.
Proposal Guidelines:
Letters should not exceed 1,000 words in length.
Include a 500-word biographical sketch of author(s).
Submission deadline: June 15, 2003.
Acceptance notification: July 15, 2003
Proposals should be sent electronically (Word or WordPerfect format) or via
surface mail to:
Becky Lentz, Program Officer for Media Policy and Technology & Margaret
Wilkerson, Director, Media, Arts and Culture Unit
Media, Arts and Culture Unit
Knowledge, Creativity & Freedom Program
Ford Foundation
320 E. 43rd Street
New York, NY 10017
Attn: Media & Diversity
For e-mail submissions, please send to [log in to unmask] (to ensure
consideration, your email subject line should read: Proposal for
Participation: Media & Diversity)
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