Reclaim the Media worked through fall 2006 to organize communities in Washington State around the issues of Internet freedom (net neutrality) and media ownership. The Washington campaign linked both issues to the broader concepts of free speech and communications rights, arguing that consolidated ownership and a non-content-neutral Internet would unacceptably encroach upon our basic rights to speak and to hear others’ speech in an open “marketplace of ideas.” Campaign strategy and materials were developed by Reclaim the Media’s principals and implemented in association with field organizer Sharon Maeda.

One of Reclaim the Media’s strategies in this community organizing campaign was to seed long-term interest in media democracy issues, in addition to mobilizing activism around immediate Senate and FCC deliberations. Along these lines, Reclaim the Media devoted resources to working closely with communities whose interests are directly affected by media policy debates, but who had until now been underrepresented or absent in such debates. These communities included the nascent Northwest Community Radio Network, linking stations (and audiences) from Alaska to Oregon, and a new Seattle-based grassroots Hip-Hop organizing coalition.

Reclaim the Media’s single highest-profile event was their media ownership hearing (November 30, Seattle). Over 400 people packed into the auditorium of Seattle’s downtown library for a public hearing on the FCC’s media ownership regulations. FCC Commissioners Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein presided over the hearing, for which Reclaim the Media strategically partnered with the Seattle Times, the University of Washington Communications Department and the Minority Executive Directors Coalition. This relationship allowed Reclaim the Media to take the lead on programming the event, while giving us unusual access to the Times editorial pages and building the Media and Democracy Coalition’s credibility. In addition to supportive unsigned editorials on net neutrality, media ownership and the proposed AT&T/BellSouth merger, the Seattle Times continued to run a string of op-ed pieces opposing ownership deregulation some based on public testimony presented at their November 30 hearing.