This year I celebrated Halloween early. Wearing cardboard-television costumes, two fellow Free Press staffers and I traveled to northern California to attend the Bioneers Conference, which focuses on ways to create a more sustainable world.

Our television sets didn’t show the racist, sexist and homophobic content that we see all too often on TV. Instead, our screens were tuned to Free Press’ “change the media, change the world” channel. On this channel, free speech abounds; everyone’s connected to high-speed, affordable and open Internet; community, noncommercial and public media are protected from funding battles; and the media are operated by a truly diverse and independent group of owners.

In our three days at the conference, my colleagues and I collected over 300 signatures on our petition promoting the need for this kind of media landscape. Our goal: sending a message to Congress and the FCC that they must serve the public interest when creating media policies.

If you’re ready for better media, you can take the first step by signing our “change the media, change the world” pledge. We’ll deliver your message to Congress and the FCC — and connect you to further actions you can take as part of our movement.