CHICAGO MEDIA ACTION NEWSLETTER: February 1, 2005 http://www.chicagomediaaction.org In this month's newsletter: * CMA solicits input for TV license challenges, CMA appears in Conscious Choice * FCC sees Michael Powell resign, decline appeal to Supreme Court * Payola pundits plague public; Illinois Telecom Act faces rewrite * Campaigns ramp up for Eyes on the Prize, LPFM, National Conference on Media Reform * Cleveland media study shows no election news is news (1) ANNOUNCEMENTS * All of the over-the-air television broadcasters in Illinois have their broadcast licenses up for renewal in 2005. Chicago Media Action is calling for input from viewers of Illinois TV broadcast stations (preferably in the Chicago area) which are not keeping to their mandate for serving the public. If you have any suggestions or specific concerns which might constitute grounds for a license challenge, contact CMA (respond to this email, or call 1-866-260-7198). We may help challenge one or more Illinois TV stations with petitions to deny later in 2005. * The next CMA meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, February 8, at 6:30pm, tenatively at 3411 W. Diversey, in Chicago (at the intersection of Milwaukee, Diversey, and Kimball, near the Logan Square blue line stop). However, we may move to a different location; watch your email and the CMA website for additional details. * Additional non-CMA announcements are listed below in "What's New In Media Politics?". (2) WHAT'S NEW WITH CMA? * CMA made two appearances in the January 2005 issue of Conscious Choice magazine, which featured the cover story "Who pulled the plug? -- How consolidation is ruining Chicago radio". Read more: http://www.chicagomediaaction.org/news.php?id=268 http://www.chicagomediaaction.org/news.php?id=269 http://www.consciouschoice.com/cc1801/radiofight1801.html * On December 2 and 3, 2005, CMA took part in a conference on the Future of Public Television. The entire transcript for the conference is now available online: http://culturalpolicy.uchicago.edu/pbs/transcripts.shtml (3) WHAT'S NEW IN MEDIA POLITICS? Plenty. * On January 21, 2005, Michael Powell announced his forthcoming resignation from the FCC. A replacement has yet to be announced. Read more: http://www.chicagomediaaction.org/news.php?id=271 http://www.freepress.net/news/6310 * A stunning development was announced on January 27, 2005. The FCC, along with the Bush administration and the Solicitor General, announced that they would not appeal a key judicial ruling striking down the FCC's attempts to scrap current media ownership rules. This would all but ensure that this ruling from June 2004 would stay in effect for the time being. The National Association of Broadcasters files an appeal anyway. Read more: http://www.chicagomediaaction.org/news.php?id=273 http://www.freepress.net/news/release.php?id=43 http://www.freepress.net/news/6438 * In January 2005, revelations have surfaced that three political pundits -- Armstrong Williams, Maggie Gallagher, and Michael McManus -- have been secretly accepting money from the White House while promoting White House policies. In a word, payola. Read more and act: http://www.freepress.net/action/payolapunditry http://www.freepress.net/news/6417 * The Illinois Telecommunications Act is expected to undergo a rewrite in 2005, which may impact the trajectory of the internet and broadband technologies. Read more and act: http://www.chicagomediaaction.org/news.php?id=276 * Downhill Battle is organizing a campaign to promote the civil rights documentary "Eyes on the Prize", which may disappear because of restrictive copyright. The campaign is a worldwide series of organized screenings of the film, timed for February 8, 2005. Learn more and take part: http://www.eyesonthescreen.org * Legal low-power FM radio is celebrating its fifth birthday on February 8, 2005, with a celebration, day of workshops, and lobbying campaign in Washington. Learn more: http://www.prometheusradio.org/lpfm_day.shtml * The group Common Cause is spearheading a Bill of Citizens' Media Rights for groups to join and rally around. Learn more and sign up: http://tinyurl.com/4xupa * The National Conference of Media Reform is now accepting registrations for the next conference to be held May 13-15, 2005 in St. Louis, Missouri. Among those already scheduled to appear: FCC Commissioners Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein, Al Franken, Naomi Klein, Juan Gonzalez, Janine Jackson, John Nichols, Amy Goodman, Arianna Huffington, George Lakoff, Robert Greenwald, Bill Fletcher and Eric Alterman. Scholarships are available. Register online: http://www.freepress.net/conference * Senator Ted Kennedy among others have called for the U.S. to withdraw from Iraq. You can add your voice on the issue by calling the Capitol switchboard at 888-508-2974 to contact your Senators and Represenative in Congress. (4) FACT OF THE MONTH An analysis of coverage of the 2004 elections by Cleveland station by the group Cleveland Newswatch (email: kmetzkonews@hotmail.com) showed that all five of Cleveland's TV news stations ignored local and state issues (except for electoral ads). What coverage could be seen was dominated by sound bites, celebrity appearances, the Presidential election, and precious little insight. Read more: http://www.chicagomediaaction.org/pdffiles/Cleveland_2004_study_report.pdf (5) QUOTE OF THE MONTH "Those who profess to favor freedom and yet depreciate agitation, are people who want crops without ploughing the ground; they want rain without thunder and lightning; they want the ocean without the roar of its many waters. The struggle may be a moral one, or it may be a physical one, or it may be both. But it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand; it never has and it never will." -- Frederick Douglas, in an August 3, 1857 speech at Canandaigua, New York (6) RECOMMENDED WEBSITE http://www.hearusnow.org HearUsNow.org is a website project from Consumer Reports, which serves as an informational and organizing tool for learning about and acting on assorted media-themed issues, including internet and broadband, digital content, phone services, and media ownership issues, among others. *** *** *** *** *** *** *** 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