FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, May 24, 2004
Contact: Mitchell Szczepanczyk, Chicago Media Action
mitchell@chicagomediaaction.org
Daytime phone: 1-773-753-0818, evening phone: 1-773-947-8471
MEDIA ACTIVISTS HIGHLIGHT FCC HEARING IN RAPID CITY, SOUTH DAKOTA
WITH 15-HOUR-LONG ROADTRIP FROM CHICAGO TO RAPID CITY
Wednesday, May 26, 5:30 pm - Surbeck Center at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology in Rapid City, SD (501 E. St. Joseph St.).
A group of Chicago activists will embark on a fifteen-hour roadtrip from
Chicago to Rapid City, South Dakota, to attend an official hearing in
Rapid City organized the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The
hearing is scheduled to begin Wednesday, May 26, 5:30pm, at the Surbest
Center at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology in Rapid City.
This FCC hearing is one of a series of six official hearings to address
how well the broadcast media address matters towards local
communities. The hearing in Rapid City is the only one of these hearings
organized for the Midwest.
Roadtrip participants intend to bring the input of Chicagoans into this
Midwest hearing, as comments at this hearing go into the official record
for determining media policy on localism issues. The roadtrip and the
comments are to highlight what organizers deem the FCC's harmful policies
that negatively impact Chicago's media and media consumers.
"It's more than a matter of common complaints against the FCC like
indecency on the airwaves, it's a matter shaping what voices get
emphasized and what voices get little airplay, and policies made by the
FCC toward shaping local media are key in this process", said Mitchell
Szczepanczyk, an organizer with Chicago Media Action, a group devoted to
media issues which is involved in organizing the roadtrip.
Roadtrip organizers also note that the hearing's locale is distant from
many of the Midwest's most populous cities, which could be seen as a
deterrent against popular input into media policy.
"I have seen tremendous interest in media politics in the past year, but
when the call went out for participants in this rare opportunity to affect
policy, only a handful of people could take part given the distance of the
trip," Szczepanczyk noted.
Two of the scheduled FCC localism hearings have already been held in
Charlotte, North Carolina, and San Antonio, Texas. Three more are
scheduled for Portland, Maine; Monterey, California; and Washington DC.
For more information:
Chicago Media Action: http://www.chicagomediaaction.org
FCC Localism Task Force: http://www.fcc.gov/localism
DISCLAIMER: The opinions expressed on this
website are those of the individual members of Chicago Media
Action who authored them, and not necessarily those of the entire
membership of Chicago Media Action, nor of Chicago Media Action
as an organization.
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