CHICAGO MEDIA ACTION NEWSLETTER: May 3, 2005 http://www.chicagomediaaction.org In this month's newsletter... * Upcoming conferences in St. Louis, Urbana, and Wisconsin * A possible CMA-organized protest against Viacom in St. Louis * Updates on Illinois and nationwide telecom fights * PBS notes: A call for hearings, and ties to a Chicago military forum * Media analysis and education from Cleveland comes to the web (1) ANNOUNCEMENTS * The National Conference on Media Reform will take place May 13-15, 2005 in St. Louis. Featured guests include Al Franken, Amy Goodman, Naomi Klein, Robert Greenwald, George Lakoff, Bill Fletcher, Robert McChesney, Medea Benjamin, Laura Flanders, Bill Fletcher, John Nichols, and more. Learn more and apply here: http://www.freepress.net/conference CMA has been selected by Free Press to run a special action clinic at the conference, and CMA will also participate in the conference's Media Democracy Showcase. CMA members are helping to organize St. Louis demonstrations against Big Media to coincide with the National Conference for Media Reform. Local activist groups and conference participants are planning to hold demonstrations at a public park next to the Viacom/CBS building in St. Louis just two blocks from the conference. Read more and comment on the still-developing plans: http://tinyurl.com/brob7 * The Institute of Communications Research at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is hosting a conference entitled "Can Freedom of the Press Survive Media Consolidation" on May 10-11, 2005. Scheduled speakers include Seymour Hersh, Amy Goodman, Naomi Klein, Phil Donahue, Bernie Sanders, Bob McChesney, John Nichols, and more. The conference is free and open to the public. Learn more: http://www.iimpr.org * CMA will also be participating in the 2005 Midwest Social Forum, in Williams Bay, Wisconsin on June 3-5, 2005. Learn more: http://www.radfest.org (2) WHAT'S NEW WITH CMA? * CMA has been preparing for all of the above events. In the meantime, the CMA website now includes an RSS syndication feed: http://www.chicagomediaaction.org/rss.php * CMA has also learned that the community advisory board of WTTW Channel 11 (Chicago's main PBS affiliate) has supported the findings of CMA's study of WTTW's show "Chicago Tonight", and will submit a statement to that effect to WTTW management. Read more (scroll down to "Unfinished business"): http://www.chicagomediaaction.org/news.php?id=294 (3) WHAT'S NEW IN MEDIA POLITICS? * On April 15, the Illinois Senate approved a rewrite Telecom Act. The controversial bill, which would repeal current consumer protections and price controls regarding state telephone companies, passed 37-14. However, the bill faces some hurdles in the state House, and at least three forums on telecommunications are being convened across the state. Read more: http://www.chicagomediaaction.org/news.php?id=300 http://www.getillinoisonline.org Illinois residents: Be sure to contact your representatives in the Illinois house to voice your concern about the telecommunications rewrite. You can find contact information here: http://www.ilga.gov * Community internet projects go on the offensive against Big Telecom. Three reports were released in April which show that Big Telecom interests have been making dubious (read: wrong) claims about community internet. Read more: http://www.freepress.net/communityinternet/=reports * PBS-related matters - A former host of Chicago Tonight hosts a forum sympathetic to military recruiters: http://www.chicagomediaaction.org/news.php?id=301 A Detroit PBS station fires a popular Black host: http://www.finalcall.com/artman/publish/article_1935.shtml And a number of national organizations including Common Cause and Consumers Union call for nationwide hearings on public broadcasting: http://www.freepress.net/press/release.php?id=64 A campaign to save PBS national from partisan operatives is underway. You can take action here: http://www.freepress.net/action/pbs (4) FACT OF THE MONTH * Trouble in "paradise": Clear Channel Communications has reported a 59% decline in net income for its first quarter, a decline so dramatic that Clear Channel announced it would spin off some of its holdings: http://tinyurl.com/badkq (5) QUOTE OF THE MONTH "All television is educational television. The only question is, what is it teaching?" -- Nicholas Johnson, former FCC commissioner (http://www.nicholasjohnson.org) (6) RECOMMENDED WEBSITE http://www.clevelandmediaproject.org Cleveland Media Project is a nonpartisan, volunteer-based organization dedicated to monitoring and improving the local news media that serve Northeast Ohio. (7) MORE ANNOUNCEMENTS * All of the 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) about stations 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, May 8, at 6:30pm, at 3411 W. Diversey, in Chicago (at the intersection of Milwaukee, Diversey, and Kimball, near the Logan Square blue line stop). We encourage all those interested -- especially women and people of color, along with others who are frequently underserved by our media -- to attend. *** *** *** *** *** *** *** 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