Click on the Video Below and Sample a Session from a previous Digital Hollywood event. For Additional Video Sessions, Click Here Politics 2008: The Media Conference for the Election of the President Tuesday, October 14 3:45 PM - 5:00 PM Session III Race, Media & Politics Charles Blow, Op-Ed columnist, The New York Times Amy Holmes, Contributor, CNN Alfred C. Liggins, III, Chief Executive Officer, President and Treasurer, Radio One Michael Eric Dyson, Professor, Georgetown University Omar Wasow, Strategic Advisor, BlackPlanet.com, Moderator Amy Holmes is a CNN political contributor and conservative commentator. She appears regularly on The Situation Room and across all networks, including the network's prime-time line-up in programs such as Larry King Live and Anderson Cooper 360º. Prior to joining CNN, Holmes served as senior speechwriter to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) from May 2003 to July 2006, writing on topics ranging from economic and energy policy to judicial nominations and the Iraq war. Before that she worked for the CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service, which oversees AmeriCorps, and helped build the non-profit Independent Women's Forum (IWF) as economic project director and campus project director. While at IWF, Holmes oversaw and edited the organization's labor statistics guide, "Women's Figures: An Illustrated Guide to the Economics of Women in America." Holmes, a registered independent, has been a familiar face on television news and talk programs. She has guest-hosted ABC's The View and appears regularly on HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher. In 2002, she hosted Lead Story on Black Entertainment Television, where she interviewed administration officials, journalists and top newsmakers. Holmes began her career on television as a Fox News Channel contributor and was later a commentator for MSNBC. She has appeared on PBS's To the Contrary, The Montel Williams Show, NBC Nightly News, CBS Early Morning Show and co-hosted PBS's Millennium 2000 broadcast. From 1999 to October of 2001, Holmes wrote a monthly guest column for USA Today. She has also been published in The Washington Post and National Review. Her political commentary has been cited in numerous national publications, including Newsweek, Glamour, Mademoiselle, Honey and Harper’s Bazaar. In May 2000, she was named one of PEOPLE magazine's "50 Most Beautiful. Holmes holds a degree in economics from Princeton University. Alfred C. Liggins, III became Chairman of TV One, in January 2003 and has been the Chief Executive Officer and President of Radio One Inc. since January 1997.__TV One, a cable network launched in January 2004, is a joint venture of Comcast Corporation and DIRECTV. Other investors in TV One include Constellation Ventures, a Bear Stearns Asset Management Venture Capital Fund; Syndicated Communications; Pacesetter Capital Group; and Opportunity Capital Partners. Mr. Liggins' responsibility is to lead the development of the new network, which will include a broad mix of original and existing programming from all the entertainment genres, including scripted and unscripted dramas, sitcoms, game shows, music shows, lifestyle programs and movies with a portion of the programming devoted to public affairs and news documentaries.__As Chief Executive Officer and President of Radio One, Mr. Liggins is responsible for the overall management and operation of all Radio One facilities. His major responsibilities include spearheading new business ventures, identifying station acquisitions, developing business plans for acquisitions, engineering transitions from previous owners to Radio One, Inc. and arranging financing for new acquisitions. Radio One, Inc. owns and/or operates 66 radio stations, located in the Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Detroit, Cleveland, Boston, St. Louis, Richmond, Raleigh/Durham, Miami, Houston, Dallas, Los Angeles, Indianapolis, Charlotte, Augusta, Cincinnati, Columbus, Dayton, Louisville, and Minneapolis markets. Radio One went public on May 6,1999. Charles M. Blow is The New York Times's visual Op-Ed columist. His column appears in The Times every other Saturday. Mr. Blow joined The New York Times in 1994 as a graphics editor and quickly became the paper's graphics director, a position he held for nine years. In that role, he led The Times to a best of show award from the Society of News Design for the Times's information graphics coverage of 9/11, the first time the award had been given for graphics coverage. He also led the paper to its first two best in show awards from the Malofiej International Infographics Summit for work that included coverage of the Iraq war. Mr. Blow went on to become the paper's Design Director for News before leaving in 2006 to become the Art Director of National Geographic Magazine. Before coming to The Times, Mr. Blow had been a graphic artist at The Detroit News. Mr. Blow graduated magna cum laude from Grambling State University in Louisiana, where he received a B.A. in mass communications. He lives in Brooklyn with his three children Omar Wasow, 37, is pursuing a doctorate in African American studies and political science at Harvard. In addition to his graduate work, Omar is the co-founder of BlackPlanet.com and an on-air technology analyst. Under Omar’s leadership BlackPlanet.com became the leading site for African Americans, reaching over three million people a month. Omar also works to demystify technology issues through regular TV and radio segments on shows like NBC's Today, CNN's American Morning and public radio's Tavis Smiley show. Similarly, Omar tutored Oprah Winfrey in her first exploration of the Net in the 12-part series 'Oprah Goes Online'. In 1999, as a result of his active participation in a number of social issues, particularly the charter school movement, Omar was selected to be a fellow in the Rockefeller Foundation's Next Generation Leadership program. In Fall 2003, a K-8 charter school that Omar helped found opened in his hometown of Brooklyn. In 2007, in recognition of the promise of his academic research, the National Science Foundation selected him for a Graduate Research Fellowship. Most recently, the Aspen Institute selected him for their Henry Crown Fellowship that recognizes emerging leaders. He received his BA in Race and Ethnic Relations from Stanford University. He can be reached at owasow (at) gmail dot com.