The United Church of Christ's Media Justice Advocacy Arm
For 50 years, the United Church of Christ has been a leader in the fight for media that is more accountable to local communities -- more local, more diverse, more just.
Building on its legacy, today OC Inc. continues to hold the media accountable and fight for media diversity. We hold the annual Everett C. Parker Lecture in Ethics and Telecommunications to continue to inspire the media and public interest advocates every fall. We work closely with the ecumenical media justice coalition So We Might See.
Office of Communication Inc. Celebrates Honorees at 29th Annual Everett C. Parker Ethics in Telecommunications Lecture & Awards Breakfast
WASHINGTON, DC, September 28, 2011—Distinguished leaders working for media reform were honored at the United Church of Christ’s Office of Communication, Inc.’s 29th Annual Everett C. Parker Ethics in Telecommunications Lecture and Breakfast.
Steven Waldman, author of the Federal Communication Commission’s recent Future of the Media Report and co-founder and former CEO of Beliefnet.com, delivered this year’s Parker Lecture, available online.
“Both news and religion leaders,” he observed, “have come to realize they must focus not only on ‘the word’ – but on the community.” In addition, he said, “they both attempt to get at something called ‘the truth.’ They do so, of course, in profoundly different ways.”
Waldman pointed to the findings of his major FCC report to conclude, “There is tremendous innovation in the media but some very worrisome gaps.”
Waldman said that the government could do much more to make its own data easily available for citizens to review. “The government, on behalf of taxpayers, can ask something more of the broadcasters that use the public’s airwaves." OC Inc. is part of the Public Interest Public Airwaves Coalition (PIPAC), which has asked the FCC to implement the modernized online disclosure recommendations included in Waldman’s agency report.
FCC Commissioner Michael Copps received a special Newton Minow Award this year in recognition of his 10 years of dedicated service at the commission and his commitment to promoting the public interest. Copps, who is about to retire from the FCC, was cited, more specifically, for his work to open up FCC policy debates to marginalized groups.
OC Inc. noted that this year marked the 50th anniversary of former FCC Chairman Newton Minow’s ground-breaking “vast wasteland speech,” which in 1961 challenged the broadcast industry to fulfill its public interest obligations in television programming.
Copps described how both Parker and Minow had inspired his own work, and then quoted Minow’s speech: “First: the people own the air. And they own it as much in prime evening time as they do at six o’clock Sunday morning. For every hour that the people give you — you owe them something.”
Alex Nogales, president and CEO of the National Hispanic Media Coalition, received the 2011 Everett C. Parker Award, given to an individual whose work embodies the principles and values of the public interest in telecommunications and the media. Nogales was recognized for his efforts to help ensure that Latinos are covered fairly in the media and that their voices are heard.
Citing statistics showing that the incidence of hate crimes against Hispanics has grown dramatically in recent years, he said, “Hate speech hurts all of us. Those who hear it and those who speak it.”
Joseph W. Waz Jr., currently president of Altura West, LLC, received the 2011 Donald H. McGannon Award in recognition of special contributions for advancing the roles of women and persons of color in the media. Waz was recognized for contributions he had made while serving as president of the Comcast Foundation and on the boards of other nonprofit organizations seeking to promote diversity in media and access to the arts.
Waz credited his early years of working with the National Citizens Committee for Broadcasting for teaching him the values of public interest in media which, he said, he had continued to try to foster as he pursued a corporate career.
The Everett C. Parker Ethics in Telecommunications Lecture was created in 1983 by OC Inc. to recognize Rev. Parker’s pioneering work as an advocate for the public’s rights in broadcasting.
If you were unable to make the Awards and would like to make a donation, please click here
PRISON PHONES ARE A MORAL ISSUE: Routinely in this country, prisons and jails charge exorbitant rates to companies who offer secure telephone service for prisoners, and those rates are passed on to the families and loved one who pay for the calls. Join OC Inc.'s campaign against this injustice by clicking here. Read about the panel we co-sponsored on"Phone Justice for Prisoners and Detainees" at the 2011 Allied Media Conference here.
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