More than 200 scholars, activists and policy-makers gathered in Memphis for the Media Policy Research Pre-conference on January 11th, 2007.  The Pre-Conference, a joint effort of the Social Science Research Council and Free Press, had two primary goals: (1) to facilitate academic research engagement with policy processes, advocacy needs, and other aspects of media reform and media justice; (2) to spur the coordination of research efforts around policy opportunities in 2007.  Both are integral to the SSRC’s program on research/advocacy collaboration: ‘Necessary Knowledge for a Democratic Public Sphere.’