2007

In November, the FCC held it's final public hearing on media ownership in Seattle.  In preparation, Coalition staff Nathaniel James worked with Reclaim the Media for a month to organize a strong public showing at the hearing.  Nathan coordinated with national Coalition allies and FCC staff, set up collaborative planning tools, conducted press outreach, joined with the team doing direct outreach to community leaders and leading testimony training workshops, and supported day-of logistics.

Building on the relationships Reclaim the Media had developed over the years and their previous success with town halls on media ownership, the added capacity helped them achieve a great success on many fronts: a huge turnout, with highly articulate and diverse testimony; a broad range of elected officials; great press coverage; and an energized regional network ready to continue working together on media issues in 2008.

The Coalition also supported a partnership between Reclaim the Media and the Future of Music Coalition's Rock the Net campaign to organize a concert and virtual press conference with singer-songwriter Matt Nathanson to educate music fans and local politicians about the importance of an open Internet to the music industry.