NCMR: A Curated Guide for You and Your Clone

Thank god for science. It's now easy to clone oneself, making the saying "being two places at once" more medical reality than sci-fi fantasy.

And what better opportunity to avail oneself of this new, new thing than the National Conference for Media Reform. With so much on offer, it's humanly impossible to fit it all in... and that's where your clone can come in handy.

My clone -- Let's call him "Tom" -- and I will be splitting time in Boston from April 8-10. If you or your clone run into one or both of us be sure to say hello. (Please don't buy Tom any beer. He's untested there.)

Where you will find at least one of us:

Friday, April 8

8:00am - 9:00am:

• Democracy Now! Live Broadcast -- We'll be there as Amy Goodman and crew kick off NCMR with the most independent news production going.

9:00am - 10:30am:

• Following the Money: Journalism and the Economic Crisis -- Nobel Laureate Joe Stiglitz mixes it up with financial reporters and advocates in a post-mortem on the journalism failures that contributed to the global meltdown.
  
  
• [Tom] Mobile Democracy: Your Phone is Political -- It's not just bedazzling, your phone is a tool of protest, free speech and political organizing, so says moderator Josh Levy and his panel of mobile all-stars.
  

10:30am - 11:00am:

• Book Signings -- Glenn Greenwald latest chronicle of the hypocrisy that lies at the core of zombie politics.

11:00am - 12:30pm:

• Censorship in the Age of Facebook and Twitter-- Like incarceration and warfare, free speech itself is falling under the control of private firms and the results are no prettier.
  
  
• [Tom] WikiLeaks, Journalism and Modern-Day Muckraking-- Goodman, Greenwald, and Sifry, oh my!
  

12:30pm - 1:00pm:

• Book Signings -- Tom chats up Jessica Clark on all things public media.
  

1:00pm - 2:15pm:

• Caucuses -- Choose your affinity. Alas, still no caucus for mutants.
  

2:30pm - 3:45pm:

• The FCC at NCMR: A National Town Hall --Commissioners Copps and Clyburn: Two fighters for justice take on the lobbying horde.
  

4:30pm - 6:30pm:

• Opening Plenary: Better Media Starts Here -- Lawrence, Nancy and Malkia: Powerpoint, politics and people power on one stage.

7:00pm - 8:30pm:

• Information Exchange Forum for Ethnic Media and Media Advocates -- Advocacy journalism [plus] media justice [equals] "more perfect union."

8:00pm - 9:30pm:

• Film: Barbershop Punk -- Tom to enjoy original in action in this retelling of the punk-rock heroics of Robb Topolski.
  

9:00 til midnight:

• Shake Your Media Maker Dance Party -- Time to re-ignite failed Tokyo dance craze:
  
  

Saturday, April 9

9:00am - 10:30am:

• Mobile Voices, Mobile Justice --Roll up sleeves and get to work building a better mobile democracy.
  

• [Tom] The Future of Journalism Is . . . Comics? -- Getting beyond The Daily Bugle.

11:00am - 12:30pm:

• What’s Next for Net Neutrality? -- An insiders' view to the decade-long battle to control the Internet.
  
  
• [Tom] Sandbox: Building Community Wireless -- Tom to be retrofitted with mesh router.
  

2:00pm - 3:30pm:

• Media and Corporate Power: Beating Back the K Street Juggernaut -- More Zombies!
  
  
• [Tom] How to Fix the Broken FCC -- Cloning Copps still an option.
  

4:00pm - 5:30pm:

• Real Issues vs. Astroturf: Confronting the Koch Brothers -- Building a movement across movements.
  
  
• [Tom] Cutting the Cord: The Future of Video -- Draft your cable emancipation proclamation.
  

7:30pm - 9:30pm:

• Keynote: Change the Media, Change the World -- Congress set to a funky back beat.
  
  

Sunday, April 10

10:00am - 11:30am:

• From Syria to Silicon Valley: Is the Freedom to Connect a Universal Right? -- How can we sustain the global movement for online freedom?
  
  
• [Tom] New Faces of Media Justice -- The next generation of freedom fighters.
  

12:00pm - 1:30pm:

• Closing Plenary: Taking It Home -- Let them eat cheezburgers.