CHICAGO MEDIA ACTION NEWSLETTER: March 8, 2008 http://www.chicagomediaaction.org In this newsletter: * Save the Internet * Stop media consolidation with Senate Resolution of Disapproval * "Oedipus" play, co-sponsored by CMA, continues * Flood of letters to NYT editor defend PBS and call for its upgrade * Trib kingpin Sam "FY" Zell issues final solution to Newsday staffers (1) ANNOUNCEMENTS AND UPCOMING EVENTS * It's March, and WTTW has still not scheduled the documentary "Turning a Corner", made by local filmmakers at Beyondmedia Education. This issue has been with us since October when the "public" TV station reneged on its promise to air the winner of a film competition held by the "Chicago Reporter" magazine. Community support for the film's broadcast is strong, diverse, & growing. And this is getting really interesting. * Take Action: Save the Internet A new bill has been introduced in the U.S. House that would stop Comcast, Verizon and AT&T from controlling what you do, and where you go online. http://tinyurl.com/2a5n6p article - http://tinyurl.com/2qms8h On February 25th in Boston, the FCC held a public hearing on Internet freedom. Comcast paid disinterested people - many of whom fell asleep - to take the seats of a hundred interested citizens who were turned away from the hearing. The fallout has been a pr nightmare for Comcast: save the internet blog - http://www.savetheinternet.com/blog/ * March 19/20 - STOP Funding War and Occupation! - Troops Home NOW! Sponsored by Chicago's 5th Year Anti-War Coalition. http://www.m20coalition.net/ * The clock is ticking: 60 Days to STOP media consolidation Sen. Byron Dorgan introduced a bill this week in the Senate (SJ Res. 28) that would overturn the FCC's disastrous December vote to gut media ownership rules. http://www.freepress.net/news/31040 * Play "Oedipus the King" continues CMA is co-sponsoring a multimedia presentation of the classic play "Oedipus the King". In this version, the chorus is composed of mass-media representatives on TV screens. Bailiwick Arts Center, 1229 W. Belmont, in Chicago. www.bigbropro.com; www.bailiwick.org. * Attend the Allied Media Conference in Detroit June 20th-22nd: http://alliedmediaconference.org/about (2) WHAT'S NEW IN MEDIA POLITICS? * The Other Side of the McCain Lobbyist Scandal Jerold M. Starr, The Nation Privatization of Pittsburgh public TV station hidden core of controversy http://tinyurl.com/2z6v2s * "Is PBS still necessary?" 836 people responded to the New York Times about its editorial "Is PBS still necessary?". Over 5,000 wrote to NewsHour, over 600 to diggs.com. The answer: a very lopsided "Yes." Many comments were gushing paeans (yuck! gross!) written by fearful mice and somnambulists, but others were more thoughtful: "PBS needs a serious overhaul.", "PBS should... be endowed like the big universities and museums.", "YES! Dammit, they are as needed as ever. They need to restructure, but so does everyone else.", "These people at PBS... pay themselves high salaries", "PBS really isn't PBS. The P seems to be missing.", "quite frankly, I have been finding those extended sponsor messages annoying." NYT editorial - http://tinyurl.com/38pyp9 letters to NYT - http://tinyurl.com/2dspup * Unscripted Ending: The picture gets blurry for public access TV Congressional Quarterly http://saveaccess.org/node/2148 (3) OTHER MEDIA NEWS * For whom the Zell tolls New York Post - Keith J. Kelly Tribune Co. owner Sam Zell struck Newsday on 2/28 with a vengeance, whacking 120 jobs. http://tinyurl.com/2tgjmf * Conrad Black spends first night in jail Agence France Press The 63-year-old, who once ran the world’s third largest media empire with such titles in his stable as the Daily Telegraph and the Chicago Sun-Times, is now prisoner 18330-424 in the Coleman jail northwest of Orlando. Said Black, "I don’t consider it shaming” to go to prison. http://tinyurl.com/226yhr * IssueLab Publishes CloseUp on Youth Media Research Ingrid Hu Dahl, Youth Media Reporter, March 4, 2008 Featuring research from the MIT/MacArthur Fdtn. Digital Media & Learning Initiative, Center for Media Justice, Pew Internet & American Life Project, Open Society Institute, more. http://www.youthmediareporter.org/2008/03/issuelab_publishes_closeup_on.html * Jousting with the Lancet: More Data, More Debate over Iraqi Deaths Center for Media and Democracy - Diane Farsetta, senior researcher How many Iraqis have died since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion? http://www.prwatch.org/node/7034 * Missing: Minorities in Media Laura S. Washington - In These Times In 1978, the American Society of Newspaper Editors (ASNE) set a goal to have journalists reach parity with their proportion of the population within 25 years. We are still waiting on the ASNE vow. http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3538/missing_minorities_in_media/ (4) WEBSITE OF THE MONTH Mhz Networks - http://www.mhznetworks.org/mhzindc/ Many voices. One world. MHz Networks flagship channel, MHz Worldview, brings programming to globally-minded audiences in the US through affiliates, including cable, satellite and online. (And look what WTTW is calling digital public service: the quilting, knitting, travel, & how-to channel "Create" - http://tinyurl.com/23379f Can we destroy "Create" please? And replace it with Mhz or something. Anything. Hello?) (5) QUOTE OF THE MONTH "Well, it turns out that the Discovery Channel isn't so interested in discovery." --Alex Gibney, winner of the Academy Award for the Best Documentary Feature "Taxi to the Dark Side", on the cable channel's cold scheduling feet. There's a lot of that going around. article - http://www.alternet.org/columnists/story/78183/ Gibney was interviewed on the "Media Matters" radio program: http://willmedia.will.uiuc.edu/ramgen/archives/mediamatters080302.rm (6) NOTICE Seeking: Independent funding source offering $10,000 gift or grant (or substantial portion thereof) to make "broadcast ready" an excellent media justice organizing documentary depicting 2006 S. Mexican broadcast station transfer policy. These funds are needed for minor re-editing, legal work, and insurance. Contact: themediastructurefailed@yahoo.com And so until next time, we bid you adios amigas and amigos! *** *** *** *** *** *** *** Chicago Media Action meets on the second and fourth Tuesday of the month at 6:30PM. All are welcome. Contact us at: cma@chicagomediaaction.org This is an email from Chicago Media Action, a Chicago activist group devoted to media issues. This newsletter is edited by Scott Sanders and Mitchell Szczepanczyk. 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