Mergers, Defunding, and Public Media! Oh, My! – Examining the Future of the U.S. Media Landscape

Today’s film and media sector is changing with every news cycle, particularly for independent creators. Explore the impact of corporate media mergers, withdrawal of federal funding, and the future of public media with NYWIFT’s panel of industry experts.

Together we’ll discover what is changing, what remains the same, and what actions we can take to make our voices be heard.

Join us for this lively and timely discussion at the Los Depressos Studios in Brooklyn.

Panelists include Sharese Bullock-Bailey (MNN), Leslie Fields-Cruz (Black Public Media), Jax Deluca (Future Film Coalition), Fernando Ramirez (Attorney), Dana Roberson (WNET/Thirteen), and Bernardo Ruiz (Director). Moderated by NYWIFT Board Member Christina Kiely.

DATE: Thursday, May 21, 2026

TIME: 6:30-8:30pm ET

PLACE: Los Depressos Studios (1271A Fulton St, Brooklyn, NY 11216)

PRICE: $5 for members* and $7 for non-members

*Executive, Platinum, and Leadership members attend for free

(All proceeds will go to NYWIFT Scholarship Fund)

Register

*Seating is limited, so please RSVP if only completely sure you are available to attend. If you are unable to attend it is vital to let us know for the wait list.

 

Panelists:

Sharese Bullock-Bailey is the Chief Program Officer at Manhattan Neighborhood Network (MNN). She is an Emmy-nominated producer, strategic consultant and leader in social impact storytelling.  Recently, Sharese served as the Festival Director/Chief Innovation Officer at Urbanworld Foundation, Chief Partnership and Strategy Officer at GFS and Director of Education Programs at Tribeca Film Festival. Sharese has funded, distributed, and curated independent media globally for the over 20 years, leading service and international education programs in over 20 countries. She serves as Board Vice Chair at Independent Television Service (ITVS) and a Board Member for CreativeTypes.

 

Leslie Fields-Cruz is the executive director of Black Public Media, the nation’s only nonprofit solely dedicated to the development of nonfiction Black content for distribution on public media. Leslie joined BPM in 2001 to manage its program development fund. She served as director of programs from 2005-2008 and as VP of programs and operations from 2008-2014 before being named BPM’s third executive director in 2014. Leslie is the creator of BPM’s award-winning anthology series, AfroPoP: The Ultimate Cultural Exchange, now in its 14th season, which features contemporary stories from the African diaspora. Under her leadership, BPM has cultivated new partnerships, diversified revenues, and initiated vital new programs (360 Incubator+, PitchBLACK Forum & Awards, BPMplus, and the Black Media Story Summit) that support Black talent and content development. In 2021, Leslie was named to Crain’s New York’s list of Notable Black Business Leaders. A graduate of U.C. Berkeley (BA) and NYU (MA), Leslie is on the board of directors for New Era Creative Space and served as board president of NYWIFT from 2022-2024.

 

Jax Deluca is a cultural strategist with more than two decades of leadership across public service and nonprofit arts organizations. She currently serves as Executive Director of the Future Film Coalition (FFC), a new national alliance advocating for the independent film sector by uniting independent film professionals and organizations to build collective power and shape field-wide efforts to secure visibility, resources, and public policy protections that will fortify the independent ecosystem and ensure audiences benefit from a diverse and thriving cultural landscape for generations to come. She also leads FFC’s national #BlockTheMerger campaign, which has mobilized thousands of filmmakers, cultural workers, and organizations to raise concerns about media consolidation and its impact on independent film, journalism, creative labor, and cultural democracy.

From 2016 to 2025, Jax served as Director of Film & Media Arts at the National Endowment for the Arts, where she oversaw a federal funding portfolio and led national initiatives addressing the structural challenges facing independent film. Her work included launching the Independent Media Arts Group (IMAG) in partnership with Sundance Institute and BAVC Media, as well as producing field-leading research on infrastructure, creative technology, and the sustainability of the independent film sector.

Jax is currently a Documentary Film in the Public Interest Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy (2025–2026), where her research explores the future of civic media infrastructure, public-interest storytelling, and sustainable regional media ecosystems in an era of platform dominance and rapid industry consolidation. Her work examines new policy, governance, and funding models that could strengthen independent film, journalism, and cultural institutions as essential components of democratic life.

 

With over 25 years of experience, the Law Office of Fernando Ramirez provides transaction legal services for clients in the music, film, television, and book publishing industries. In the film and television industry, he has served as legal counsel on over 100 films acquired by domestic and international commercial and public media distributors, broadcasters, and streamers, including American Masters, American Experience, A&E Network, AMC, BET, ESPN, HBO, Hulu, Independent Lens, LOGO, Netflix, Peacock, POV, Prime Video, Showtime, and various PBS station affiliates. Mr. Ramirez has served as legal counsel to Oscar® and Emmy® nominated clients, and award-winning series. His representation of independent and major label music industry professionals includes deals with BMG, Atlantic, Universal, SONY/ATV, and Warner Chappell. His book author clients have signed with various domestic and international publishers such as Humming Bird Press, Simon & Schuster, Grupo Planeta, NYU Press, Macmillan Publishers, and Hachette Book Group. Several of Fernando’s clients have been represented by top-tier sales rep and talent agencies.

 

Dana Roberson is the General Manager of THIRTEEN and Production Operations at The WNET Group in New York City, and Executive Producer at WNET/Thirteen, in New York City, managing daily operations and overseeing award‑winning national news and documentary programming for America’s flagship PBS station, including PBS NewsHour Weekend (2018-2022) and the Preserving Democracy series. 

 A veteran of CBS News, WNYC/New York Public Radio, and Dan Rather’s investigative team, her reporting has taken her around the world and earned her a Peabody Award for her coverage of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal.

Roberson holds degrees from the University of Iowa and Columbia Journalism School and teaches journalism at CUNY, NYU, and Fordham. She lives in Harlem.

 

Bernardo Ruiz is a three-time Emmy® nominated director/producer and member of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. New York Magazine called his debut feature documentary, Reportero (2012), “a powerful reminder of how journalism often requires immense amounts of physical and psychological bravery.” Other credits as director include: The Infinite Race (ESPN’s 30 for 30, 2020), James Beard-award nominee Harvest Season (Independent Lens, 2019), and Emmy® nominated Kingdom of Shadows (Participant Media, 2015). His biography of baseball icon and humanitarian, Roberto Clemente for PBS’s American Experience was awarded the “Alma” for Outstanding Made for Television Documentary.

 

Christina Kiely (Moderator) has been producing and directing documentaries for over 25 years. She has an Emmy nomination for her work on the ABC News documentary series NYPD 24/7 and wrote, directed and produced ABC News’ first digital documentary series, A Murder On Orchard Street.  and co-produced the accompanying podcast to the 7-part series (2018) – which hit #1 on Apple Podcasts. Outside of ABC, Christina has produced and directed numerous programs, including the A&E Biography of Yo-Yo Ma, 12 hours of the New York Times series Code Blue, the PBS weekly news magazine Rights & Wrongs: Human Rights Television, and various documentaries for the International Labor Organization of the United Nations. Kiely is developing a new educational documentary series with the Malala Fund, Catharsis Arts Foundation & Kids Rock For Kids about a community of teen musicians in NYC who are collaborating with girls in Afghanistan who attend underground schools in a time when music and girls’ education have both been banned by the Taliban. Kiely is part of a screenwriting duo with her sister, author Maria Kiely. Their family comedy, We Should Celebrate, is in development. Christina serves as the VP of Education and Advocacy on the Executive Board of NYWIFT.

 

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(All images courtesy of the participants)