Launch Features Roundtable Discussion, "Is Media Consolidation
Threatening Democracy? After AOL Time Warner, What's Next?,"
with Jonathan Alter, Ken Auletta, Christopher Byron,
Farai Chideya, Jay Rosen and Michael Wolff
New York City, January 28, 2000 -- Globalvision New Media is launching
MediaChannel.org (http://www.MediaChannel.org), the first Web portal
dedicated to international media issues, and the premier Internet source
for analysis and information about the media. Driven by content from a
network of more than 300 international media organizations and
contributors, MediaChannel explores areas such as freedom of expression,
citizen access to media, trends in media ownership, media arts, and the
intersection of media and politics. A joint project of two leading
not-for-profit groups, Britain's OneWorld Online and The
Global Center in New York, MediaChannel.org was designed and produced by
Globalvision New Media.
"We created MediaChannel in response to the crisis in the media world,"
explains Danny Schechter, MediaChannel Executive Editor and an Emmy
award-winning former ABC News and CNN producer. "The 'dumbing down' of news
and trivializing of information is not just an American phenomenon, but a
global one."
Echoing MediaChannel's concern for objectivity and integrity in journalism,
MediaChannel advisory board member Walter Cronkite urged the public "to
make MediaChannel.org your portal to the Internet." In particular, he
applauded MediaChannel's "encouragement to people inside the media to speak
up. Corporate censorship is just as dangerous as government censorship."
Mr. Cronkite's full statement will be online Monday, February 1, at the
site, http://www.mediachannel.org.
The MediaChannel launch will kick off with a roundtable discussion on
Thursday, February 3. Jonathan Alter (Newsweek, NBC), Ken Auletta (New
Yorker), Christopher Byron (MSNBC, The Observer), Farai Chideya (Oxygen
Media), Jay Rosen (NYU), and Michael Wolff (New York Magazine) will explore
"Is Media Consolidation Threatening Democracy? After AOL Time/Warner,
What's Next?", from 6 - 8 p.m. at the Carriage House, 149 East 38th Street.
Content on MediaChannel.org is drawn from an international network of
hundreds of affiliated organizations and sites, including the American
Society of Newspaper Editors, the Project for Excellence in Journalism, the
Media Institute of Southern Africa, the Columbia Journalism Review, UNESCO
and the Freedom Forum. There are more than 90 advisors and contributors
from 36 countries. Current features on the site include essays by South
Africa's Nobel Laureate Nadine Gordimer and Uruguayan writer Eduardo
Galeano; a discussion of the media's role at the World Economic Forum in
Switzerland; and reports from media watch groups on topics such as AOL's
recent purchase of Time Warner.
"The MediaChannel is the first project of our new company, Globalvision
New Media" said Rory O'Connor, President and CEO of Globalvision, Inc. "We
are producing the site in the public interest with the support of many
foundations and donors in the same spirit of public TV." The Rockefeller
Foundation, Open Society Institute, Arca Foundation, Reebok Human Rights
Foundation and the Puffin Foundation are among those who have provided
funding for MediaChannel.
"Discussion, debate and discourse are our hallmarks," said Ken Jordan,
MediaChannel's Site Director. "We don't just gripe about what's wrong with
the media -- we also explore ways to make it right. We are creating an
on-line action center for media critics, analysts, educators and
journalists world wide."
Globalvision, Inc. is a leading independent film and video production
company headquartered in New York City. Established in 1987, Globalvision
has a 13-year track record of producing award-winning television series,
news programming and documentary films.
