Coalition member organizations Media Tank, Prometheus Radio Project, and PennPIRG, worked together to build grassroots and political support for key media policy fights at the local, state and national levels. During the 2006 campaign, these organizations worked, separately and in coalition, to educate new audiences and bring new stakeholder groups into their network, as well as introduce public interest perspectives to political decision-makers and the press.

Upon realizing the need for informed activists outside of the politically active areas of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, Prometheus Radio Project embarked on a “Road Show”, or organizing tour, to develop an active statewide citizen base and to educate the public about media and democracy issues in Pennsylvania. PRP organizers spent several weeks in July, August and September touring the state of Pennsylvania, meeting with activists and media makers to give them a personal invitation to get involved in the fight for democratic media. Through countless meetings and workshops, Prometheus strategized with people across the state about ways to influence the political process that affects our communications infrastructure. At the end of their tour, they had not only built up an impressive network of activists and advocates who are committed to working on media issues at the state level, but they had also confirmed there is a very real demand for this style of organizing. Prometheus Radio Project organizers look forward to setting out on similar tours in the near future.

PennPIRG Education Fund worked to educate the public and generate opposition to attempts by the FCC to weaken media ownership rules. Using their door-to-door canvass, PennPIRG distributed over 800 flyers encouraging the public to submit comments to the Federal Communications Commission in opposition to weakening media ownership rules. They also used their e-mail activist network to generate additional comments to the FCC and submitted numerous posts on popular blog sites to encourage readers to write the FCC. PennPIRG Education Fund met one-on-one with community leaders and organizations to encourage them to make their views known with the FCC, and they reached out to dozens of local government officials, reporters and newspaper editors to educate them on media reform policies such as cable franchising, Internet Freedom and media ownership rules.

In addition to these efforts, the three organizations held a joint press conference with Philadelphia City Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown and Bob Christian of the Mid-Atlantic Community Papers to release the How Bigger Media Hurts Pennsylvania report and fact sheet. Following the press conference, the Philadelphia City Council unanimously approved a resolution urging the FCC put a stop to further media consolidation.

Media Tank worked throughout the 2006 campaign to build up a new statewide network in Pennsylvania focused on state and federal media and communications policy. The network galvanized around two key issues: state cable franchising and national media ownership. Media Tank facilitated discussion about the state franchising legislation that was pending, using our regular conference calls and listserv as a way to share intelligence about the proposed legislation and related hearings. They also activated their network of activists on the media ownership campaign, producing resource materials for use by the PA network, MDC partners, as well as Media Tank’s own membership base. Media Tank’s campaign culminated with a forum on January 18th with FCC commissioners Copps and Adelstein, as well as Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds-Brown, and a panel of local media and civic leaders. Dozens of local citizens presented their testimony, and many more heard about the issues through the great press coverage before and after the event.