CHICAGO MEDIA ACTION ALERT: July 16, 2007
http://www.chicagomediaaction.org

Chicago's daily newspaper readers deserve a dedicated space for
progressive editorials about media and democracy. And Editor & Publisher
magazine recently printed an article titled "Chicago Sun-Times Looks to
Redefine Itself as ‘Liberal, Working-Class’ Paper".

http://tinyurl.com/37z42o

According to the article,

"Under marching orders from Publisher John Cruickshank and Editor in
Chief Michael Cooke, new Editorial Page Editor Cheryl L. Reed
introduced a new Commentary section Tuesday with a promise to turn the
tabloid into the liberal-leaning paper it was for decades before
the Reagan administration. 'We are returning to our liberal,
working-class roots, a position that pits us squarely opposite the
Chicago Tribune - that Republican, George Bush-touting paper over on
moneyed Michigan Avenue,' Reed wrote. 'We’re rethinking our stance on
several issues, including the most pressing issue facing Americans
today: Bush’s war in Iraq... We’ll be sticking our necks out on issues.
You won’t be scratching your heads trying to figure out where we stand.'”

ACTION: Ask the Chicago Sun-Times to reserve a regular space (at least
twice a week) on its editorial pages for columns about media reform and
media justice.

Chicago Media Action urges you to contact new Editorial Page Editor
Cheryl L. Reed and tell her that popular and respected media writers
including Robert McChesney, Salim Muwakkil, Jeff Cohen, Amy Goodman, and
Ali Abunimah, and others, as well as lesser known and citizen journalists, could provide editorials to the Sun-Times on the issues pertaining to media and democracy on a rotating basis.

E-mail the new Editorial Page Editor at the Chicago Sun-Times Ms. Cheryl
Reed at creed@suntimes.com or contact her through the main switchboard
at (312) 321-3000. Tell her that wider mainstream access to quality
writing on the topics of media reform and media justice is important to
you and important to maintaining an informed democracy.


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One more thing...

In the July CMA newsletter, we reported that CMA's petition to deny
filed back in November 2005 was rejected last month at the FCC.

Friday, July 13th was lucky for CMA in one respect; on that date, we
filed a reconsideration motion against the FCC's rejection, which could
open up new avenues of action over media policy.

You can view a PDF file of the petition - and the new local political coverage study by The University of Wisconsin-Madison NewsLab that is appended to it - at the link below. The new study is entitled

"MIDWEST NEWS INDEX:
An Analysis of Local Television
News Coverage of Elections and Government
In Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin"

http://www.chicagomediaaction.org/pdffiles/Petition_Recon_2007-07-13.pdf


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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

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