[Archive] White Paper

Alliance for Community Media

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About the ALLIANCE FOR COMMUNITY MEDIA (ACM): A nonprofit, national membership organization founded in 1976, the Alliance represents the interests of over 1,000 public, educational and governmental ("PEG") access organizations and public access internet centers throughout the country. It also represents the interests of an estimated 1.5 million individuals, through their local religious, community, charitable and other groups, who utilize PEG access television centers and Internet providers to speak to their memberships and their larger communities.

WHITE PAPERS within the ACM are discussions focusing on philosophical aspects of public, educational, or governmental access; community media; alternative media; democratization of the media; access and activism; international community media; etc.  Of special interest are submissions that include a self-reflexive analysis of basic access tenets, critiquing access philosophical underpinnings (e.g., the notion of "first come, first served"), or comparing the tenets and traditions of US community media with alternative media in other parts of the world. Other works dealing with access or media democracy in general are also appreciated.

Papers are presented in White Paper sessions at the national conference of the Alliance for Community Media (ACM) and may be published in the ACM's publication, the Community Media Review.  At least one White Paper session involves a single presenter developing a topic, with significant time for discussion.

Papers and essays submitted for White Paper sessions are evaluated according to their importance to access practice and philosophy; contribution to the knowledge base of community media; interest to an audience of access practitioners, academics, and other involved groups; conceptualization; and the clarity of presentation. The sessions include a significant amount of interaction with session participants.