NEW YORK, NY - February 26, 2008 - William C. Thompson, Jr., Comptroller of the City of New York, will offer opening remarks at a policy forum discussing the future of wireless communications in America organized by the Open Media and Information Companies Initiative (Open MIC).

The Open MIC forum, which is being co-hosted by the Paley Center for Media, will be held at the Paley Center in midtown Manhattan on the morning of Tuesday, March 11.

"Wireless America: Closed or Open?" will examine the emerging business environment and rules of the mobile Internet, and the challenges involved in ensuring open access for all. Panelists include Blair Levin, Managing Director of the investment firm Stifel Nicolaus; Mark Lloyd, Vice President of the Leadership Council on Civil Rights; and Jason Devitt, CEO of Skydeck, a new company providing services for the cellular and wireless markets.

Open MIC (www.openmic.org) is a non-profit organization working to promote a vibrant, diverse media ecosystem through market-based solutions. Open MIC fosters dialogue among media companies, investors, consumers and creators with the goal of developing successful and responsible media practices for the digital age.

Comptroller Thompson, who manages more than $110 billion in New York City Pension Funds, has been a leader among institutional investors in advancing important corporate governance and corporate social responsibility reforms. These include the repeal of the classified structure of corporate boards and the annual election of directors, a prohibition against workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, and the adoption of standards for the protection of the environment and human rights globally.

Comptroller Thompson, on behalf of the Pension Funds, recently filed shareholder resolutions calling on Yahoo! and Google to establish a set of policies protecting against the infringement of basic freedoms by countries currently doing business with the internet search engines.
This Open MIC policy forum is the first of a series designed to explore specific aspects of media and their critical importance to both business and democracy. More information and a registration link are available at the Open MIC web site: www.openmic.org/workgroup.

Open MIC

Open MIC

The Open Media and Information Companies Initiative - Open MIC - is a non-profit organization working to promote a vibrant, diverse media ecosystem through market-based solutions. The guiding insight of Open MIC is that the media values we promote as citizens are the same as those we seek as investors: diversity and competition, creativity and innovation, openness and transparency. We believe that a dynamic, open and critical media sector is good for both the business of media and the health of democratic society. Open MIC fosters dialogue among media companies, investors, consumers and creators with the goal of developing successful and responsible media practices for the digital age.

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