The Freedom of Expression Project

Pre-conference of the National Conference for Media Reform, Minneapolis, 6-8 June 2008

Convened by Consumers Union, 5 June 2008
Report by Global Partners and Associates

Minneapolis, 6-8 June 2008

The National Conference for Media Reform (NCMR), organised by Free Press, brought together US activists, media professionals and academics concerned with issues of media ownership, communications technology and democracy.

Download a PDF copy of our most recent briefing note by clicking on the 'Attachment' link below.

This paper by Morris Lipson examines whether the values that the Freedom of Expression Project believes should underlie communications policy making are rooted within the international human rights framework. Lipson highlights how the rights to free expression, culture and political participation underpin the proposed values and associated policy principles. However, depending on their interpretation, tensions exist between some of the values. Further work needs to be done to balance out these tensions so that that the values can have the maximum effect on policy making.

The Freedom of Expression Project is currently working with its international partners to develop a set of rights-based public interest principles to guide policy making in the networked communications environment. A number of similar initiatives led by other groups have already been completed or are ongoing. This paper by Kate Wilkinson maps these initiatives according to the mechansisms they use to implement and enforce standards and the scope of the issues they address.

In 2008 we are working to define broad policy principles which, if adhered to by policy makers, business and users, could help build a communications environment that supports free expression and the public interest. You can download the current draft of these principles at the bottom of the page, or you can read and comment online by clicking here We want as many people as possible to feed into this process, so if you have any comments please get in touch.