CHICAGO MEDIA ACTION ALERT: September 17, 2006 The CMA website has been offline since late August 2006 because of an assortment of technical problems affecting the website. These problems have also affected the CMA announcements list, which is still undergoing repairs. Nevertheless, CMA has been very busy recently in helping to organize events. Here are some brief announcements of two upcoming events, and some other announcements of note. (CMA's email address is also currently offline, and responses to this email address may not work. If you wish to contact CMA, please call our toll-free phone number: 1-866-260-7198.) *** *** *** *** *** *** Chicago Media Action and the North Shore Coalition for Peace and Justice (NSCPJ) present: A public educational event with guest speaker - AMY GOODMAN Host & executive producer of Pacifica Radio's daily TV and radio news program "Democracy Now!" and co-author (with journalist David Goodman) of the new book "Static: Government Liars, Media Cheerleaders, and the People Who Fight Back" DATE: Wednesday, September 20, 2006 TIME: 5:30 PM PLACE: Leverone Hall on the campus of Northwestern University, 2001 Sheridan Rd. in Evanston (just east of Foster St. and Sheridan Rd., near the Foster CTA Purple Line stop) A book signing will follow. Here is an announcement on Chicago Indymedia with additional information: http://chicago.indymedia.org/newswire/display/73883/index.php *** *** *** *** *** *** Save the Date: Wednesday, October 4, 2006. CMA is organizing a public educational forum -- to be held at the Chicago Temple -- on the topic of Media and Urban Issues. It will feature Paul Street, former head of research for the Chicago Urban League; Steve Macek, author of "Urban Nightmares: The Media, the Right and the Moral Panic over the City"; a representative of Resident's Journal; and Cliff Kelly, WVON talk show host. More details to come. *** *** *** *** *** *** Other Announcements of Note: Aram Arahonian, general director of Telesur, the Venezuela-based independent, international, anti-imperialist TV news network, will be speaking about "Telesur, International Media and the Venezuelan Revolution" at 7:30 pm, Saturday, September 30 in the Cindy Pritzker Auditorium, Harold Washington Library, 400 S. State St., Chicago. Arahonian's public lecture is part of the Global Fusion Conference, an annual meeting of international communication scholars and professionals engaged in global dialogue on media, communication and culture. For more information, contact gfc@calumet.purdue.edu or visit the conference website at www.global-fusion.org The NewStandard, one of the only professional independent non-commercial news sources in the United States, which counts a number of Chicagoans as contributors, is in the middle of a now-or-never fundraising drive, and is asking for monthly donations to survive past September. Otherwise, The NewStandard would be forced to shut down. Learn more and donate online: http://newstandardnews.net/