Philadelphia has long been a battle ground in the war between people who say media consolidation is not in the public interest and media companies who feel otherwise. For starters, our two daily newspapers are controlled by the same parent company, while many of our radio stations are owned by just a handful of major conglomerates.

So it's only fitting that Philadelphia will host the National Alliance for Media Arts and Culture's (NAMAC) conference "Taking Liberties" next week (Sept. 28-Oct. 2) at the Sheraton Society Hill and other locations around town. Here FCC Commissioner Michael J. Copps, Air America Radio's Danny Goldberg and other notables will discuss the impact and consequences of the further centralization of media ownership.

The little guys won an important battle back in 2004, when the federal Third Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia heard the concerns of Prometheus Radio Project, a local low-power-FM advocacy group. The court's ruling focused on how a change in FCC rules could increase the number of outlets one company could own, and thus limit the diversity of viewpoints within media, homogenize the airwaves, diminish local impact and allow controversial mergers, both locally and nationally. These might seem picayune delineations, but in light of the recent Katrina disaster, the need for locally focused media outlets has never been more apparent. And many argue that local focus is compromised by corporate ownership.

"This is a very extreme example of when you ask the question, "Does the media serve the local community?'" says Inja Coates, director of Philadelphia-based media activist group Media Tank. "The communications infrastructure was not in place [to deal with Katrina] because corporations have bought the development of these things. Because of this, there can't be a municipal pipeline. There can't be the focus on local-controlled and -run stations, specifically to be able to serve in instances like this."

In the days following the mass exodus, attempts to start a low-power FM station operating near the Astrodome in Houston to serve the evacuee community were held up in red tape until the launch of a six-watt station on Sept. 13. The volunteer-run station aims to keep evacuees abreast of the news surrounding the disaster and the fallout, as well to make the relief effort easier for volunteers. As the number of evacuees at the Astrodome decreases, volunteers and evacuees ask how much more helpful this station would have been had it been secured sooner, or had already been in place.

On this front, Clear Channel, one of the largest media companies in the country, one which owns several radio stations in the Philadelphia market, feels that corporate ownership can provide resources to stations that enhance local coverage. "A good example is the resources Clear Channel radio stations in Baton Rouge were able to share with Clear Channel, Entercom and independent stations evacuated from New Orleans," says a Clear Channel spokesperson. "These groups are now operating together as the United Radio Broadcasters of New Orleans to provide a reliable and consistent radio broadcast of emergency recovery and relief information."

Independent or corporate-owned, local focus will be key for all stations moving forward.

"We have committed at WXPN to make increased public service a significant component of any [station] growth," explains Roger LeMay, general manager of WXPN. "It's important that in this age of media consolidation, listeners can point to this place and say, "That's my radio station and I can visit there anytime I want.' The groups that are pressuring these media conglomerates to increase their level of public service are on the right track."

Katrina is just the latest in a laundry list of topics that will be debated and discussed at the NAMAC conference, in which both LeMay and Coates will participate. The event kicks off with a symposium featuring leading members of the media reform movement, including the FCC's Copps. The focus of the conference is to discuss the dangers of further media consolidation and concentration, but also on the ability of independent media artists to create and distribute their works through a variety of mediums, both old and new.

"It appears that the bigger "big media' gets, the more opportunity and audience appetite there is for independent, alternative media and distribution," adds LeMay. "While clearly there is still a need for media regulation, the exciting development is that technology is democratizing distribution faster than the conglomerates can buy it up."

For more information on the conference, which is hosted by Scribe Video Center, visit www.takingliberties2005.org.