On August 4 Congress begins its August recess. When they return, legislators will debate major policies that will shape our media system for generations. In these debates, the vast majority of the American people are lined up in opposition to huge corporate interests that benefit economically and politically from control over the media. Their hope is to push their corrupt policies through in the dark of night, with no popular participation or awareness.

As the founders of Free Press – www.freepress.net – we have been on top of these struggles and our mission is to draw people into the policy debates. This is our report.

The most important battle goes to the heart of our digital future. Cable and phone companies are trying to radically transform the Internet by abolishing “net neutrality” and creating a tiered Internet where they control who gets access to the public. While on its face this is a wonky issue, at the end of the day it’s about getting critical journalism and media that informs into living rooms in every state - red and blue. It's about limiting the undue influence and control of the largest media conglomerates, and creating vibrant and fearless noncommercial media that provide a real alternative to commercial media. It is about having a viable First Amendment for the 21st century.

Buoyed by the massive grassroots campaign backing Net Neutrality (which now includes over one million people, 750 organizations, over 15,000 blog links, and over 17,000 MySpace friends), we managed an 11-11 tie vote in the Senate committee that oversees Internet regulation, making it the most contentious issue in the larger Telecom Act that passed the US House and is under debate in the Senate. The “SaveTheInternet.com” campaign has arguably been the most successful netroots advocacy campaign ever, and has transformed the debate in Washington in our favor.

If we can keep the pressure up, Hill observers believe that Net Neutrality can and will stall the entire bill, and Congress will be forced to start from scratch next year. That’s good news for us, as we can continue to build our coalition and create political pressure necessary to win. Our greatest risk is that the Senate will move to quietly pass something at the end of the year as an amendment to a larger spending bill. You can learn more about this issue at http://www.savetheinternet.com/.

On another front, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin made his move two weeks ago to remove some of the last remaining media ownership limits. This despite the fact that over 95% of the millions of public comments received by the FCC in the past three years oppose the move.

The proposed rule change would loosen the rules that prevent large daily newspaper owners from also owning television and radio stations in the same town (and vice versa). Acting under pressure from powerful media companies, Chairman Martin appears indifferent to the damage such a move would inflict on localism and diversity in the marketplace for local news and information.

FCC Commissioners Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein are staunch opponents of media consolidation. They, along with activists from across the political spectrum are gearing up for a fight that will require all-hands-on-deck. The current timeline puts the actual vote after the November election. You can follow the campaign to stop media concentration at http://www.stopbigmedia.com/.

In public broadcasting, the US House recently voted for a 23% funding cut for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). The Senate responded by passing full funding, but the two bills will be reconciled in December behind closed doors. We will need to raise the volume and ensure that full funding is appropriated. At the same time, we are working towards long term reform that gets public broadcasting away from running the annual funding gauntlet.

You probably remember CPB board Chairman Ken Tomlinson and his effort to counter “liberal advocacy journalism” at PBS. Public pressure forced him to resign amid charges that he misused power, and injected partisanship into the agency. Last month, President Bush nominated to the board a television sitcom producer who has described himself as “thoroughly conservative in ways that strike horror into the hearts of my Hollywood colleagues.”

Brazen partisanship – on either side of the aisle – has no place in the governance of public broadcasting. In fact, the CPB was established specifically to provide a firewall from political influence. We are gearing up to oppose the new nominee as we did Ken Tomlinson. At the same time, we are meeting with PBS and NPR station managers and national leadership as we build support for long term reform.

That’s where things are in a nutshell. We are going to need all hands on deck if we are going to defeat the plutocrats and win these battles. Together, we can promote more investigative, critical journalism. Smarter entertainment, less commercialism. We can create a media system that supports and nourishes democracy. Please consider becoming a member of Free Press (it is free: https://freepress.net/action/signup.php) so you can participate in our work.

Robert W. McChesney is President and Josh Silver is Executive Director of Free Press.

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