CMA v. WTTW, Round Two (letter in the Chicago Reader)

Posted by Mitchell - July 31, 2004 (entry 219)

(Published in the July 30, 2004 issue of the Chicago Reader)

CMA v. WTTW, Round Two
The accusation by WTTW's Randy King accusation against Chicago Media Action is ill-founded. Chicago Media Action isn't interested in self-aggrandizement; CMA is working to improve the media in Chicago, and to make the city's main public television station worthy of the word "public". WTTW can bad mouth CMA to no end, can accuse us of making requests we didn't make in the first place, and can accuse us of confusing public access with public television, but I have yet to see WTTW refute the substance of our study, which confirms its negligence to most of Chicago's population who aren't wealthy and well-connected.

Indeed, WTTW's programming is dedicated to the very rich -- that section of society which is already abundantly represented in our media and which PBS was not set up to serve.

And as to WTTW covering the FCC's media ownership rules, if this was the only mention by WTTW on this issue, then Chicago Tonight was merely aping its corporate media brethren. The issue finally got widespread coverage just days before the FCC's ruling on June 2, 2003, when the issue could be safely addressed. WTTW didn't do anything to discuss the issue in the months of organizing before the ruling was slated to come down when such a discussion could have made a difference, and so WTTW should be ashamed.

Mitchell Szczepanczyk
Chicago Media Action

DISCLAIMER: The opinions expressed on this website are those of the individual members of Chicago Media Action who authored them, and not necessarily those of the entire membership of Chicago Media Action, nor of Chicago Media Action as an organization.

FAIR USE NOTICE: This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.