CHICAGO MEDIA ACTION ALERT, February 12, 2004
http://www.chicagomediaaction.org

This has been an especially busy week in media politics, with lots of updates and opportunities for action:
 
(1) OPPORTUNITY IN THE HOUSE TO OVERTURN FCC OWNERSHIP RULES
A key bill in the House (House Resolution 72) which could overturn entirely the FCC's disastrous media
ownership vote of June 2, 2003 vote. A lot of momentum is behind this already. We strongly encourage you to
get involved. Please do so here: 

http://www.mediareform.net/callcongress.php
 
(2) CMA CO-SPONSORED FILM THIS WEEKEND
A reminder: CMA is co-presenting (with Chicago Filmmakers) a screening of "Al-Jazeera Exclusive", about the
Qatar-based TV station up to and during the 2003 Iraq War. The screening is Sunday, February 15, 7pm at
Chicago Filmmakers (5243 N. Clark).  For more details about the film, please visit:

http://www.chicagomediaaction.org/news.php?id=144

Download a PDF flier of the event here:

http://www.chicagomediaaction.org/pdffiles/Al-Jazeera_flier_2004_02_15.pdf

(3) CHICAGO CABLE COMMISSION ACTS AGAINST RCN
In local matters, the City Cable Commission held its monthly meeting on February 10.  The commission
unanimously passed two resolutions condemning RCN for its tardy financial obligations.  A deadline of February
20 was given.  For more details, please visit:

http://www.chicagomediaaction.org/news.php?id=147

WBEZ (Chicago's main NPR affiliate) had coverage of the issue on its Eight Forty Eight show:

http://www.wbez.org/audio_library/ram_2004/848/848_040211b.ram

And be sure to join the campaign to restore this funding:

http://www.cantv.org/rcn.htm#help

*** *** *** *** *** *** ***

Oral arguments began February 11 in Philadelphia regarding the case of the Prometheus Radio Project against
the FCC.  This is the case which won a stunning stay over the FCC's rules last September, one day before the
rules would have gone into effect.   Stay on top of the latest developments here:

http://www.mediareform.net/media/philadelphia.php

And in a very scary prospect, the business world is abuzz with the announcement that the cable company Comcast
launched a multi-billion-dollar bid to buy out Disney.  Read more about the bid here:

http://www.mediareform.net/news.php?id=2514
 
CMA also announces an expanded HTML version of its email newsletter. It contains the information from our
plain-text February newsletter, other campaigns which CMA is pursuing, plus much more:

http://www.chicagomediaaction.org/newsletter/cma_nl_February_2004.html
   
*** *** *** *** *** *** ***

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