CHICAGO MEDIA ACTION ALERT, October 8, 2003
http://www.chicagomediaaction.org

This alert brings you two quick notices for actions you can take.  
One is home-grown: the unveiling of the Chicago Media Action Rapid 
Response Form.  The other comes to us from Free Press: an alert 
encouraging you to sign a petition (if you haven't already) and 
call your House representative.

Please feel free to forward this email to others.

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Announcing the Chicago Media Action Rapid Response Form

Chicago Media Action announces the debut of its Rapid Response Form. Now you
can email decision-makers on timely and important Chicago-related issues by
completing a few fields from a webpage and clicking a button. 

The CMA Rapid Response Form is inspired by the electronic advocacy 
efforts of such national websites as moveon.com and workingforchange.com. 

The first cause of the Rapid Response Form: Drop the charges against Grant
Newburger.  For more information on the cause and to access the Form, 
please visit: 

http://www.chicagomediaaction.org/index.php?link=rapid_response. 

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Media corporations are getting bigger and democracy is losing. Journalism 
has become dumbed-down entertainment, we are deluged by advertising, and 
elections have become scripted horseraces instead of forums for meaningful 
debate.

And it's getting worse. This summer the Federal Communications Commission 
made it easier for media giants to get even bigger. In response to 
massive public outcry -- some three million Americans wrote or called 
Washington in an unprecedented show of opposition -- the Senate passed a 
full rollback of the FCC rules. Now members of the House of Representatives 
are listening to big media lobbyists instead of the public, and are 
blocking a vote.

Today we've reached a make-or-break moment that hinges on you. With three 
simple steps, you can make the difference. Your petition and phone call 
are the only ways to force a vote on legislation that would reverse the 
FCC's decision.

STEP ONE
Sign the online petition to roll back the FCC rules. Go to 
http://www.mediareform.net/petition.php .

STEP TWO
Call your U.S. Representative. Go to 
http://www.mediareform.net/callcongress for the number and details. 
Most Members of Congress get fewer than 5 calls a day from constituents 
on ANY legislative issue. 10 calls on one issue looks like a banner 
day. 50 makes people sit up and wonder. 100 lights a fire.

Why call? Because a letter is being circulated by leading House Democrats 
and Republicans calling for a vote on media ownership. If your 
Representative hasn't signed it, please call them and ask him/her to 
do so. Over 120 (out of 435) have signed already.  Click here 
http://www.mediareform.net/callcongress to find out if your 
Representative is on the letter. Instructions are provided.

STEP THREE
Forward this message to everyone you know. 

Yours,

Robert W. McChesney
Free Press

P.S. For more information on the FCC rules and media reform efforts, 
visit http://www.mediareform.net . Working together we can build a 
better media.

BACKGROUND
Since the FCC loosened media ownership rules on June 2, the House 
and Senate have voted for three bills that overturn some or all of 
the changes. Not a single one of these bills has passed in both chambers.

On September 16th the Senate voted by an overwhelming margin for a 
full reversal of the FCC's blunder. It's now in the House of 
Representatives, but the Speaker of the House -- Rep. Dennis 
Hastert -- is rejecting the democratic process. Hastert, who 
controls the House voting schedule, says he has no plans to allow 
a vote on the resolution.  Republican Majority Leader Tom Delay has 
called the Senate bill "dead on arrival." They won't permit a vote 
because they don't want it to pass. They favor the concentration 
of corporate wealth over a democratized media system (see 
http://www.mediareform.net/news.php?id=1178 for details). Your 
action is the only thing that will change their minds.

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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: www.chicagomediaaction.org
email: cma@chicagomediaaction.org

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