Chicago Media Action P. O. Box 14140 Chicago, IL 60614 October 10, 2003 Ms. Sandra Guthman Chairman of the Board of Trustees 5400 North St. Louis Chicago, IL 60625 Dear Ms. Guthman: Chicago Media Action is an activist group dedicated to analyzing and broadening Chicago's mainstream media and to building Chicago's independent media. In light of the fact that the airwaves belong to the PUBLIC, the membership of Chicago Media Action hereby makes the following four demands: 1) We demand that WTTW CEO Dan Schmidt be fired immediately. [The Chicago Tribune has exposed that he cost WTTW over 10 million dollars through his errors and mismanagement. In addition, the station is laying off employees at the same time that a) WTTW pays Schmidt a $280,000 annual salary and b) Schmidt re-built the station entryway at a cost of $2.1 million. As owners of the airwaves, we will no longer tolerate this gross malfeasance.] 2) We demand that a government audit be performed on all WTTW functions immediately because we want to know how OUR money is being spent. [Multiple complaints have been filed and fines have been levied against WTTW for misconduct. Also, there is an accounting theft scandal where up to $600,000 is alleged to have been embezzled by WTTW employees. We are concerned that what is known thus far may be just the tip of the iceberg.] 3) We demand a monthly series of documentaries followed by live town hall meetings on WTTW during the prime time evening hours. This program must be organized by people from the community whose views have, up to now, had little or no representation on WTTW. [Chicago Media Action has proposed a "documentary-followed-by-live-town-hall- meeting" series to WTTW, but the station has rejected all of the proposed documentary films. The subjects of the rejected documentaries included the war in Iraq, the Patriot Act, and the need for campaign finance reform.] 4) We demand that by February of 2004, a completely independent commission must evaluate and make recommendations regarding the following proposed solutions to WTTW?s funding dilemma: a) Creating more diverse programming which serves the communities now being underserved by WTTW, thus creating a NEW and wider pool of viewers who will financially support the station. [Ignoring the demographics of Chicago, Channel 11 has no African American as the primary host of any of their regularly scheduled, locally produced shows ("Chicago Tonight", "Check, Please", "Wild Chicago", "Artbeat Chicago", "Chicago Stories" or "Sound Opinions"). It would appear that cash-strapped WTTW has little interest in tapping into the significant financial resources of the Chicago African-American community. As of this month, WTTW is producing another new talk show, hosted by local white music critics. However, WTTW rejected a proposal (made in October of 2002 and again in March of 2003) which asked for a program more relevant to the Chicago community. The rejected proposal requested that Cliff Kelley and Salim Muwakkil co-host either a regular "Chicago Tonight" segment or a political commentary/talk show produced by WTTW.] b) Creating an independent public broadcasting trust to improve funding and reduce the content control imposed by the corporations who fund WTTW and the Public Broadcasting Service. c) Establishing a WTTW Board of Trustees which is elected by the public. [Currently the Board of Trustees elect themselves with no public input or accountability. This lack of public participation has resulted in a board consisting mostly of corporate elites. The overwhelming majority of the self-selected WTTW Board is composed of presidents, CEOs, and Chairs of corporations such as Salomon Smith Barney, Com Ed, Bank One, Peoples Energy, etc., who clearly cannot represent the interest of the working class. The vast majority of the viewing public IS poor and working-class. It is only through public elections that they will achieve fair representation on the WTTW Board.] Public television was originally intended to be commercial-free. PUBLIC television was founded to represent the interest of the PUBLIC and is obligated to do so. The core of the problem is that WTTW's financial mismanagement has substantially increased its already heavy obligation to represent the interests of corporate funders, who run commercials on this supposedly PUBLIC station. We believe that the solutions listed above will help to resolve these conflicting obligations. Chicago Media Action can be reached by email at cma@chicagomediaaction.org or by phone at 866-260-7198. We look forward to your response. Sincerely, Chicago Media Action Mitchell Szczepanczyk, President