ABSTRACT
The Shanghai Press Club and the New York Media Forum were both attempts to change the media from the bottom up. Top executives have many occasions for interacting: on panels, in fancy restaurants at elite salons run by Colorado’ s Aspen Institute, at markets in Cannes or Los Angeles, at cable shows and National Association of Television Program Executives conventions. “Most media executives operate in the valley,” says Ivan Lustig, a Schroder Wertheim executive in charge of the conference, “and here’s a chance for them to hear from people who are on mountaintops and can tell them what’s on the other side of the peak.” The US government sends an emissary to remind the magnates that there is still a public interest to be served in the communications sphere. Despite the superficial bonhomie of the media summits, it is clear that most of the television network executives who appear, exuding self-confidence and the aura of power, are anything but “free.”
