Did you know that the Main Stream Media (MSM) held a conference in Denver, CO, on April 5-7, 2013?  The official conference name was "National Conference for Media Reform."  Sounds great, doesn't it?  Media reform and all. Well, not so fast.  A closer inspection of the conference's stated purpose is that "... the media are not left-wing enough, and that government regulations and subsidies are necessary to restore the concept of a 'public media' that people can rely on for news and information."

One conference goal is to urge "... the Obama Administration to promote more federal control over the Internet, under the guise of 'net neutrality'."

The conference featured:

·      Dan Rather, late of CBS, and now on Mark Cuban's AXS TV.

·      The film "Shadows of Liberty", which:

*featured Julian Assange of WikiLeaks before he went into hiding because of rape charges, and who hosted a program on the Russia Today (RT) channel

* demonized President Ronald Reagan for deregulating the media, a policy decision that gave rise to conservative talk radio and more, not less, diverse voices in the media

*  talks about how "corporate power" is the cause of all major media scandals

* completely ignored the rise and influence of the left-wing media

* completely ignored the liberal leaning of public broadcasting

* Amy Goodwin, co-host of Democracy Now!  She is so far left that she ran a  program honoring Fidel Castro collaborator Che Guevara.

* Juan Gonzalez, conference panel member, who was a member of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), which spawned the terrorist Weather Underground.

* Robert McChesney, University of Illinois Marxist Professor and co-founder of Free Press (conference sponsor), who said "Our job is to make media reform part of our broader struggle for democracy, social justice, and, dare we say it, socialism."

* Mark Lloyd, conference panel moderator, head of the New America Foundation's "Media Policy Initiative", who has praised Venezuela's Marxist revolution where the Chavez regime has attempted to control or even eliminate private media sources.

It's interesting to note that Goodman and Gonzalez, in 2008, used Democracy Now! as a platform for Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn so they could dispute then GOP-vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin's charge that Ayers and Dohrn were terrorist associates of Fearless Leader Barack Hussein Obama.

The MSM may want to read the first amendment to our U.S. Constitution: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."   [emphasis mine]   True, no law limiting the press has been proposed.  But how loudly will the press (or the MSM) protest if it "sells its soul" to get government regulations and subsidies?

And guess who the conference funders were:

The Ford Foundation ($1 million)

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation ($1 million)

Eric and Wendy Schmidt (the Google chairman and his wife) ($1 million)

Foundation to Promote Open Society (A George Soros outfit) ($250,000 - $999,999)

Open Society Institute (Another George Soros outfit) ($250,000 - $999,999)

 Our tax dollars: U.S. Department of State ($250,000 - $999,999) - coincidentally (I'm sure), former Obama State Department official Anne-Marie Slaughter was just named the next president of the New America Foundation mentioned abov.

Yes, that is the same New America Foundation that joined Common Cause and over 40 other "public interest groups" in a letter to Obama that closed with "We strongly urge you to nominate a new FCC Chair and new Commissioner who are committed to faithfully implementing the media policies you have championed during your career in public service."  Also in the letter is "... the Commission must seize this opportunity to chart a new course for the FCC - one that will prioritize the public interest over corporate interests."   [emphasis mine]   Nowhere in the letter is "the public interest" defined, but you can bet that Common Cause has a (hidden) definition of what it says is good for us.

Yet another example of our tax dollars hard at work for "our good!" Meanwhile, White House tours have been canceled.

But that's just my opinion.

Dr. Warren Beatty (not the liberal actor) earned a Ph.D. in quantitative management and statistics from Florida State University. He was a (very conservative) professor of quantitative management specializing in using statistics to assist/support decision-making. He has been a consultant to many small businesses and is now retired. Dr. Beatty is a veteran who served in the U.S. Army for 22 years.