Sean Bersell was elected Thursday to serve as the chair of the Media Coalition for 2006.
As chair, Bersell will lead the Board of Directors of the association, which defends the First Amendment right to produce and sell books, magazines, recordings, videotapes and videogames and defends the American public’s First Amendment right to have access to the broadest possible range of opinion and entertainment.
The Media Coalition, founded in 1973, represents most of the booksellers, publishers, librarians, periodical distributors, recording and videogame manufacturers, and recording and video retailers in the United States. Bersell succeeds Judith Krug, executive director of the Freedom to Read Foundation, who has served as the Board chair for the last three years.
“There is a chill wind blowing in America today,” Bersell said. “We live in a country where bookstores are threatened with obscenity prosecutions for carrying books about human sexuality, where politicians scramble to see who can enact the most draconian video game censorship bill, and where self-appointed guardians of morality seek to purge our media of all but the most innocuous content. I’m honored that my colleagues on the Board of the Media Coalition have asked me to undertake the responsibility of leadership as the Media Coalition faces these and other threats to freedom of speech in the coming year.”
David Horowitz, executive director of the Media Coalition, said “We look forward to benefiting from Sean’s guidance and vision. Sean’s substantial experience in governmental affairs, awareness and understanding of the concerns facing our members, and his organizational abilities make The Board confident that he will be an outstanding Chair for The Media Coalition in this difficult environment for producers, distributors and retailers of First Amendment protected material.”
Bersell is vice president – public affairs of the Video Software Dealers Association. In that capacity he is responsible for the government affairs and public relations programs of the association, the trade association for video retailers and the home video industry. Bersell represents VSDA’s membership before the U.S. Congress, state legislatures, and local governments on issues that impact the home video industry, including copyright law, First Amendment issues, taxation, and retail practices. He is the association’s lead lobbyist on state and federal attempts to restrict minors’ access to non-obscene videos and video games and oversees the association’s litigation challenging unconstitutional restrictions on entertainment content.
The members of the Media Coalition are:
The American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression
The Association of American Publishers, Inc.
The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund
The Entertainment Software Association
The Freedom to Read Foundation
The Interactive Entertainment Merchants Association
The Magazine Publishers of America, Inc.
The Motion Picture Association of America, Inc.
The National Association of Recording Merchandisers
The Publishers Marketing Association
The Recording Industry Association of America, Inc.
The Video Software Dealers Association
