Media reform

Media reform refers to proposed attempts to reform mass media towards an agenda which is more in tune with public needs and away from a perceived bias toward corporate, government or political biases. Media reform advocates also place a strong emphasis upon enabling those who are marginalized or semi-marginalized by their individual incomes, immutable characteristics or desperate conditions to possess access to means of publication and dissemination of information. They do not come from a concern with policy, or with a desire to democratize federal bureaucracies and regulations.

A related concept, media justice, refers to an analytical framework and a regional, grassroots movement led by historically disenfranchised communities to transform media and cultural production, rights and policy in the service of social justice. The Media Justice Framework offers a new way to understand and redistribute media power to achieve a fair and accessible information and cultural apparatus that fulfils its promise to inform the public, watchdog power, and serve all segments of the public equally. The Movement for Media Justice believes that media production and distribution must be under the control of communities, not companies; and that achieving social justice victories requires a secondary strategy for media policy change.