NOW President to Speak at Town Hall Meeting on Media Diversity

June 25, 2007

By Lisa Bennett, Communications Director

Kim Gandy will join a distinguished panel of speakers for a June 29 national town hall meeting on "Why Media Diversity Matters." The event will take place simultaneously in Washington, D.C., and Denver, Colo., this Friday at 12 noon Eastern/10 am Mountain, and can be viewed live on the web.

NOW has long recognized that we cannot achieve equality for women without diversity in media ownership and management, program content that is responsive to and respectful of women, and access for all to a broad range of information. Likewise, we must ensure that women's rights issues are an integral part of the burgeoning media reform movement. Gandy will address the issue of women in the media at the town hall meeting.

Organized by the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, the meeting will be moderated by talk show host Tavis Smiley and Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper. Commissioner Michael Copps will represent the Federal Communications Commission, the agency that regulates the media and has the power to promote more women and people of color as owners of television and radio stations. Instead, FCC de-regulation opened the door for an unprecedented level of media consolidation during the past decade, which in turn diminished the presence of diverse voices and viewpoints on our public airwaves.

Watch the town hall meeting online or attend the event in Washington, D.C., or in Denver.