By I. smiley G. Calderon | smileycalderon@gmail.com

In March, Fresno and Clovis’ Community Media Access Collaborative (CMAC), a local 501(c)(3) non-profit organization designed to help community members share their stories through media, hosted the 2025 ACM West Region Conference at the DoubleTree Hilton Fresno Convention Center downtown. The theme of the meeting was “inspiring change with community voices.”

According to Bryan Harley, CMAC’s executive director, the Alliance for Community Media (ACM) is a very important national organization representing Public, Educational, and Governmental (PEG) community media centers and access organizations nationwide. Founded in 1976, ACM represents over 1,700 PEG organizations like CMAC.

ACM’s mission is to promote diverse civic and community engagement through readily accessible media. Its vision is that “all communities have the resources, ability and right to express themselves, create community dialogue and engage in civic life through local media.”

This aligns with CMAC’s mission quite well: “to empower community voices by promoting media literacy, civic engagement, cultural understanding, and creative expression.” Everyone has a story to tell, and CMAC wants to help them share it using media. Folks don’t need to have any experience with video or media production. CMAC provides all the equipment and training required to make a film, documentary, talk show, or podcast. CMAC also operates three television channels on Comcast Xfinity and AT&T U-verse. Community members can submit their original content for playback on cable or on CMAC’s on-demand website. Like the public library, membership is simple, affordable, and open to anyone in the community.

The ACM West Conference was started in 1984, and CMAC has now hosted it twice, the first being in 2017. As a host, CMAC was able to highlight its innovative media work in the Central Valley to other PEG centers across the west coast region of the country. CMAC is an exemplary leader in this field. Mayor Jerry Dyer recognized this and offered graceful introductory remarks at the conference while welcoming the diverse group of media professionals to Fresno. 

As the digital landscape continues to grow and online media outlets compete to stay on top of national events, local news coverage has increasingly declined. The conference explored such a trend in depth.  In a plenary talk entitled “Rebuilding Local Journalism: Opportunities and New Coalitions,” panelists discussed the potential for PEG access organizations to work with nonprofit journalism outlets to help fill in the gaps in community news coverage. The panelists included Darryl Holliday, co-founder of City Bureau, a Pulitzer Prize-winning civic media lab based in Chicago; Danielle Bergstorm, Executive Director and Managing Editor of Fresnoland; and Alma Martinez, Executive Director of the Central Valley Journalism Collaborative. 

In light of the political uncertainty ushered in by an extreme Trump presidency, community media content creators are concerned about what impact may be on the horizon to freedom of expression. However, Harley is hopeful as he stands with fellow PEG groups. 

“ACM actively advocates for policies that protect community media centers, ensuring they continue to serve as platforms for diverse voices and local content.”

Yet, Harley also admits there is a threat that needs to be addressed head-on. 

“There’s a lot of distrust in the media right now, but efforts by community media centers can positively address that through media literacy initiatives that inform and educate residents about journalistic practices and mis/disinformation, and give them the confidence and skills to tell their own stories.” 

CMAC is leading the way in enhancing media literacy in Fresno by ensuring equitable community access to media production resources. To learn more, visit www.cmac.tv.