|
September 28-30, 2009:
Commission to meet
in New York City
The Communication Commission is planning its fall 2009 meeting in New
York City, beginning on Monday morning, Sept. 28, and
concluding on Wednesday evening, Sept. 30.
The
Interchurch Center, home of the National Council of Churches on
Manhattan's upper west side, will be the starting point for some
sessions, but several on-site visits to communication companies are
planned, plus seminars and keynotes featuring New York-based
communication leaders. The three-day meeting will conclude with
the annual Everett C. Parker Lecture
on Telecommunication Ethics, to be held Sept. 30 at The Riverside
Church.
Mark your calendar now and watch this space for more
information soon.
Recent Commission Meetings . .
.
APRIL 20-22, 2009 IN NASHVILLE:
The Communication Commission held its spring meeting at the Embassy
Suites Vanderbilt Hotel and at the offices and studios of United
Methodist Communications, whose staff brought the group
an
extensive presentation on coordinated communication strategies that
demonstrate convergence across platforms and the use of social
networking media. Among other highlights was a discussion of local
coverage of religion with Nashville Tennessean religion editor
Bob Smietana (left), co-author of
Good Intentions: Nine Hot Button Issues Viewed Through the Eyes of
Faith. The third
Ecumenical Film Festival featured a half-dozen of the latest
documentaries and outreach productions from Commission members.
The commission also received progress reports on
the development of the new interfaith media advocacy site,
So We Might See, a joint venture of the United Church of
Christ, the NCC Communication Commission, the U.S. Conference of
Catholic Bishops, and other faith organizations.
NOVEMBER 10-12, 2008 IN DENVER:
The Communication Commission held its fall meeting in conjunction with
the
2008 General Assembly
of National Council of Churches and Church World Service, November 11-13
at the
Denver Renaissance Hotel.
The Commission met from midday on Monday, November 10, through Tuesday,
November 11, followed immediately by the opening session of the colorful
gathering of 35 Christian communions who work together in unity for
justice, education and peace.

A special feature of this Commission session was an opening dinner
dialogue with the new general secretary of the National Council of
Churches, Michael Kinnamon
(right). At lunch on Tuesday, the marketing and promotion
committee hosted a program featuring Adam Dempsey, a
prominent African-American advertising and broadcast executive
in Denver, and greeted Mike Maus, former commission
director, now in Denver.
Tuesday evening, commission members were invited to share dinner with
the Assembly delegates from their own communions, and some stayed over
to attend the full General Assembly, which adjourned Thursday night
after a special dinner culminating the 100th anniversary of the modern
ecumenical movement, which saw the drafting of the churches' Social
Creed and the founding of the Federal Council of Churches, predecessor
to NCC, in 1908. A highlight of the dinner was a presentation by Bill
Fore, (left) a former director of the Communication Commission, now
retired and living in California.
JUNE 4-6, 2008 IN
MINNEAPOLIS:
The
Communication Commission met for its 2008 spring meeting at Westminster
Presbyterian Church, which was followed by the National Conference
for Media Reform
(NCMR) June 6-8, at the Minneapolis Convention Center two
blocks
away.
The Commission opened with a dinner
presentation by NCC President-Elect
Peg Chemberlin,,
(right) CEO of the Minnesota Council of Churches. The next day's lunch
featured a presentation by
Romeo
Ramirez, member of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), a
movement of mostly hispanic low-wage farmworkers in Florida, and
Melody Gonzalez oof Interfaith Action of Southwest Florida and
the Student/
Farmworker
Alliance, shown at left. They shared communications insights from
the CIW's long struggle for fair treatment by the fast food industry,
and described the operation of CIW's low-power community radio station,
a key organizing asset. The luncheon was underwritten by
Intersections, a ministry of New York's Collegiate Churches.
The commission's new
Marketing and Promotion
Committee
held its initial session during the
Minneapolis meeting and the Electronic Programming Committee
sponsored its second
Ecumenical Film Festival,
showcasing faith productions of the
Commission's
member communions.
More than 3,500 registered for the media reform conference
that followed. It featured addresses by Bill Moyers (right), Arianna
Huffington, Dan Rather,
and FCC Commissioners Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein, and dozens
of media-related seminars, including two faith-based sessions
co-sponsored by the Communication Commission
and developed by UCC staffer Cheryl Leanza.
 
For a brief
summary of the other NCC Communication Commission meetings since 2001,
click here. . .
|