CHICAGO MEDIA ACTION ANNOUNCEMENT: November 2, 2005 http://www.chicagomediaaction.org Instead of our usual monthly newsletter, we have a CMA-related announcement to share. Throughout 2005, CMA has been calling attention to the impending expiration of all of the broadcast licenses of all of the over-the-air TV stations in Illinois -- thus opening an opportunity for action which comes around only once every eight years. CMA had also announced the possibility that it might file a "petition to deny" -- a formal regulatory action with the Federal Communications Commission, where CMA asks the FCC to deny the license renewal of one or more Chicago-area TV stations for systematically neglecting to serve the public interest (even though the free eight-year-long broadcast licenses at issue grant monopoly broadcast privileges valued in the hundreds of millions of dollars). Today, we can confirm that, on November 1, 2005, CMA has indeed filed a petition to deny, along with attorneys at the Media Access Project (a Washington DC telecommunications law firm) who served as legal counsel for this action. The petition calls into question the broadcast licenses of NINE Chicago-area TV stations -- WBBM, WMAQ, WLS, WGN, WCIU, WFLD, WCPX, WSNS and WPWR. The lynchpin of the petition is a study by the Center for Media and Public Affairs, which examined local electoral coverage in Illinois for the 2004 electoral campaign. The study confirms the systematic negligence of a key obligation of public service -- local election coverage in an election year. The petition and all related documentation is here: http://www.chicagomediaaction.org/pdffiles/2005petition.pdf The press release of the filing is here: http://www.chicagomediaaction.org/news.php?id=375 We'll be sure to keep you updated about the developments around this action. We'll also post the latest developments on the CMA website. If you have any questions about this action, please contact CMA. *** *** *** *** *** *** *** This is an email from Chicago Media Action, a Chicago activist group devoted to media issues. Chicago Media Action, P.O. Box 14140, Chicago IL 60614-0140 Call toll-free: 1-866-260-7198 Web: http://www.chicagomediaaction.org E-mail: cma@chicagomediaaction.org To unsubscribe from this mailing list, simply send an email requesting removal to mailinglist@chicagomediaaction.org