Today was a day of imagining what is possible. Out of the 900 workshops happening throughout the forum, there were so many workshops I wanted to attend just today. Just to name a few:

* Movement from the Margins-an artists' response to Katrina/Rita (Incite! Women of Color Against Violence)

 *Anti-Arab Racism & Islamophobia: Confronting Stereotypesand Dehumanization (Left Turn)

 * Building a Movement of Power, Justice and Community for Asian Pacific Islander Women & Girls (National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum) 

* America's Global Media-Ethnic News Orgs Connect Home Countries w/ Neighborhoods (New American Media)

* Right to Self Determination from New Orleans to Miami: Displaced Black Communities Right to the City (POWER U Center for Social Change)

My first workshop was "Media Reform: Being the Media/The Blogging Revolution" (Velvet Revolution) where speakers from FreePress, Atlanta Progressive News and Brad Friedman from the Brad Blog spoke about the importance of everyone being media makers and distributors, given the bias in "professional" media. Brad Friedman shared an interaction he had with a well known television journalist (identity withheld) saying bloggers have made their jobs a nightmare, and leaving him to wonder where big name media will be in 5 years. Bloggers and smaller media outlets have broken stories, forcing larger outlets to follow their leads. 

Grassroots and independent media is vital to countering the attacks of a biased and racist media system. At the same time, however, we should go beyond merely creating an alternative space but work to transform, not merely reform the media system. The issue goes beyond media reform, access and coverage. We need to fight for a just media system that furthers our social justice movements. 

The "Media Justice Scenario Discussion: Imagining the (Un)thinkable" (Media Justice Fund of Funding Exchange) workshop was the perfect place to begin collectively envisioning what a just media system looks like. The panel included contributors to the Funding Exchange's new publication "Imagining the (Un)Thinkable, in which YMC's fight to Unplug Clear Channel and Build a People's Station Campaign was featured. Topics ranged from building more low power community radio stations to the role of the internet and public access televisions in amplifying our social justice work. Betty Yu from New York's Manhattan Neighborhood Network made a very on-point statement regarding the need for media to follow and amplify the work of our communities.