The Australian Center for Justice and Democracy launches 2007 by presenting a series of three public forums to look at the issue of community media in greater depth.

Globally, media industries are conglomerating and rationalising operations for economic efficiency much to the detriment of the consumer and citizen, creating an oligopoly and reducing the number of voices herd. But the fight is not over. All over the world, community media is experiencing resurgence. Driven by Information and Communication Technologies that ease difficulty of use and cost are making it easier to make media leading to a boom in citizen-generated media. The question is “can it last?”

You can listen to a recording of the evening here (MP3, 6.8 MB)

When: 6:30 for 7pm start Tuesday 20 March
Where: Stork Hotel [504 Elizabeth Street, Melbourne]
Cost: $5 (free for ACDJ members)
Contact: centre@democracyandjustice.org for more details

Speakers:

• Ellie Rennie is a Research Fellow in the ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation (www.cci.edu.au). She is author of Community Media: A Global Introduction (Rowman & Littlefield, 2006). Ellie has also worked with the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia as a policy consultant in the area of digital television, assisting CTV stations to move beyond the ‘trial’ phase and into a permanent licensing framework. Her current research involves Australia’s emerging youth community radio sector and the social, educational and economic benefits of media participation. Ellie Rennie is involved in a number of community and academic associations, including the Community Communication section of the International Association of Media and Communication Research, Open Spectrum Australia, OURMedia/Nuestros Medios and the Wesley College Institute for Innovation in Education. She is based at Swinburne University of Technology’s Institute for Social Research in Melbourne.
• Moderated by Terry Johal, ACDJ director and lecturer in the communications faculty at RMIT