Subject : UPPNET Letter To Organizers of the
UPPNET
UNION PRODUCERS AND PROGRAMMERS NETWORK

Established in 1989 to Promote Pro-Labor TV, Video,
Radio and Film Production and Programming


May 10, 2005

TO; Organizers of the 2005 National Conference for Media Reform


I am writing to you on behalf of our Board of Directors of the Union Producers and Programmers Network (UPPNET). UPPNET promotes the production and use of television and radio programs focused on social and economic justice and the cause of organized labor and working people. Our most recent newsletter can be downloaded at www.laborbeat.org/3/uppnetwinter05.pdf.

We are disappointed that an important component in the resistance to corporate media domination and the emergence of alternative voices will be missing from the planned discussions at the upcoming Second National Conference on Media Reform.

The Conference goal summarized on the web site states: "The 2005 National Conference for Media Reform will provide a forum to discuss visionary and practical solutions to the problems of our media." Certainly at least one significant "practical solution" to the "problems of our media" is the most important project in national labor media today: the Workers Independent News or WIN.

We believe that WIN has already provided you with information about the growing success and exposure of this internet-based radio programming service (see www.laborradio.org). WIN currently reaches 2 million listeners per day on commercial and non-commercial stations.

WIN's director, Frank Emspak, should have been added to the agenda. Further, we have become aware that no representative from the International Labor Communications Association (ILCA) was included on the agenda either despite the fact that labor media and publications still reach a significant audience with an often-alternative message and also despite the fact that the ILCA, like UPPNET, has taken bold steps to try to move labor media in a progressive, democratic direction. Both oversights are unfortunate for the success of your conference.

Labor's media efforts are critical to the future of a democratic media in the United States. We are sorry that you decided to turn down opportunities to hear from people who could have helped illuminate the growing movement to revitalize labor media, make it a viable source of truly mainstream information and analysis in the service of a progressive American future.

Thank you,



Howard L. Kling, President



c/o Labor Education Service, University of Minnesota, 321 19th Avenue South, Suite 3-300, Minneapolis, MN 55455 (612) 624-5020 ƒ FAX: (612) 624-1585 ƒ hkling (at) csom.umn.edu