CHICAGO MEDIA ACTION NEWSLETTER, September 2, 2004 http://www.chicagomediaaction.org In this month's newsletter: * Midwest hearing on The Future of Media * CAN TV ordinance vote is delayed again; your help is still needed * Screening of a new Danny Schechter film * Death and profits at Disney * The world's aggregated news at a glance (1) ANNOUNCEMENTS AND ACTIONS * The ordinance in support of CAN TV (Chicago's public access TV network) has been delayed again. A vote is now scheduled for September 29. Your help is still needed; be sure to contact your aldermen and the Mayor's office to encourage them to support this ordinance. See more details below. * There are a series of town meetings, collectively called "The Future of Media", which will be used for assessing the state of our media and to shape what's to come in our media and in media activism. The next hearing is scheduled for the midwest in Dearborn, Michigan, near Detroit. More details are forthcoming. CMA plans to send a delegation; if you're interested in being part of our delegation, contact us at 1-866-260-7198 or email cma@chicagomediaaction.org; you can learn more about the hearing at: http://www.freepress.net/future//dearborn * If you can't come to Detroit, consider coming to CMA's next meeting, which is also scheduled for Tuesday, September 14, at 6:30 pm at 3411 W. Diversey. (2) WHAT'S NEW WITH CMA? * On August 22, CMA members organized a film screening at the No Exit Cafe with noted media critic and filmmaker Danny Schechter. Read more about the film and the event: http://www.chicagomediaaction.org/news.php?id=226 http://www.embeddedwmd.com Plans are afoot to bring the film back to Chicago for screenings at the Music Box Theatre. * On August 29, CMA co-sponsored the Unity Rally in Chicago's Federal Plaza in support of the massive protests in New York City against the Republican National Convention. * The CMA study of PBS-affiliate WTTW Channel 11's show "Chicago Tonight" gained still more publicity in August, with a report in the Chicago Daily Herald and two more radio spots. Read more: http://www.chicagomediaaction.org/news.php?id=223 The study is available online here: http://www.chicagomediaaction.org/pdffiles/CMA_WTTW.pdf Print copies of the study are also available; simply contact CMA for more information. (3) WHAT'S NEW IN MEDIA POLITICS? * For months, Chicagoans have been lobbying the city council and the mayor in support of a new CAN TV funding ordinance. On September 1, an anticipated vote was scheduled before the Chicago City Council, but was delayed by a manuever known as "Defer and Publish". Only votes from two aldermen are necessary to enact this; the two aldermen responsible for this deferral were Edward Burke (14th Ward) and William Beavers (7th Ward). The vote is now scheduled for Wednesday, September 29. You are strongly encouraged to keep the pressure on the mayor and the city council. CAN TV's fate might hang in the balance. Contact information is available here: http://www.cantv.org/mayor1.htm http://www.cantv.org/alder1.htm And keep up with the latest by contacting CAN TV at 312-738-1400 or online at www.cantv.org * Big Media companies and their allies in the FCC have been hard at work trying to chip away at the court ruling in June which overturned a series of major ownership rule changes. The FCC has been asking to have the court restore its changes to radio ownership. And an appeal to rescind the cross-ownership rule in the in largest markets has been filed by The Tribune company (even though the company is currently breaking the rule in at least four cities nationwide). Read more: http://www.freepress.net/news/article.php?id=4263 http://www.freepress.net/news/4286 (4) QUOTE OF THE MONTH "Sometimes we have to suffer through commercial television in order to defeat it." -- Hannah Sassaman, an organizer with the Prometheus Radio Project (5) FACT OF THE MONTH August 17 -- Walt Disney Entertainment received just $6,300 in fines after a worker was run over and killed by a float as it entered a parade. Javier Cruz, 38, died after his right foot became caught in a parade float. He fell and was then run over. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration categorized the citation as "serious," but the maximum fine is $7,000 for non-willful one-time offenses. Had the agency determined that the death was part of a pattern or was willful, the maximum fine would have only been $70,000. The Walt Disney Co. recently reported $604 million in earnings for the third quarter of this year. Source: http://newstandardnews.net/content/?action=show_item&itemid=834 (6) RECOMMENDED WEBSITE http://www.marumushi.com/apps/newsmap/newsmap.cfm Newsmap is an application that visually reflects the constantly changing landscape of the Google News news aggregator. Newsmap seeks to reveal underlying patterns in news reporting across cultures and within news segments in constant change around the globe. *** *** *** *** *** *** *** This is an email from Chicago Media Action, a Chicago activist group devoted to media issues. Chicago Media Action, P.O. 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