CHICAGO MEDIA ACTION ALERT: May 20, 2005
http://www.chicagomediaaction.org

In this alert:
* The Illinois Telecom Act's possible forthcoming vote in the house
* The 2005 Midwest Social Forum in Wisconsin
* An alert from FAIR regarding Newsweek
* The 2005 Community Media Workshop conference
* A CMA-led action clinic in St. Louis
* CAN TV will air Bill Moyers this weekend

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The current rewrite of the Illinois Telecommunications Act could face a vote 
in the Illinois State House in the coming weeks, and if approved would be a 
boon for Big Telecom companies, and would harm Illinois citizens and consumers
as it would reduce public service obligations and price gouging protections.

Illinois residents: We encourage you to contact your state representatives; 
inform them to oppose the current rewrite of the bill, formally known SB1700.  
Contact information is online:

http://www.ilga.gov

Both the Citizens Utility Board and the Illinois Public Interest Research 
Group have set up online action forms on this issue:

http://cubaction.org/showalert.asp?aaid=1274

http://illinoispirg.org/IL.asp?id=155&id3=IL&id4=ILAA&

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CMA will be participating in Radfest, the 2005 Midwest Social Forum, 
June 3-5, 2005, located in the Lake Geneva Campus of Aurora University 
in Williams Bay, Wisconsin, with over 50 workshops on media,  community 
organizing, peace & global justice, racial justice and more.  Just a 60 
to 90 minute drive from Chicago (carpools are available).  

CMA's Karen Bond and In These Times' Salim Muwakkil will facilitate the 
workshop described below:

Media Justice As A Civil Rights Issue: Media Is An Instrument of Genocide

Sunday, June 15th, 2005, 10:45AM to 12:15PM

Media justice is about self-determination.  It's not about mere 
participation, it's about power.  It's not just about fairness, it's about 
who's writing the rules of fairness. Through the media's manipulation of 
public perception, whole races can be demonized so that sponsoring 
corporations can profit from the war and discrimination which result. 
The assertion by the community of color that media justice is a right, not 
a privilege, is based on the fact that the public owns the airwaves.  As 
media activists and media OWNERS, what should our priorities be?  Which
methods can best help us to assert our rights?

Another media workshop of note: "Break the Media Blockade! How to get it done!".   

For conference information, transportation options and to register for 
the conference, please visit:

http://www.radfest.org/

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Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting has released an alert in which it notes 
a Newsweek double standard -- retracting one report regarding Guantanamo 
interrogators, but letting stand a since-discredited claims regarding 
Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.  Read more:

http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=2519

To join FAIR's mailing list, you can use this page:

http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=129

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In Chicago, the Community Media Workshop will hold its annual Making Media 
Connections conference, June 1-2, 2005.

The conference offers non-profit and community groups the opportunity to 
connect with media makers and producers to help get important local news 
covered. Read more and register:

http://www.newstips.org/interior.php?section=Calendar&main_id=440

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This past weekend saw the 2005 National Conference for Media Reform
in St. Louis, Missouri.  One action clinic on media monitoring which CMA 
helped organize was packed to overflowing.  Photos from the workshop are 
online here:

http://www.chicagomediaaction.org/index.php?link=2005-05-15_st_louis

The audio from the workshop is available online here:

http://www.freepress.net/conference/audio05/sun-ac-mediamonitoring.mp3

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Speaking of St. Louis, longtime journalist Bill Moyers gave the 
final presentation of the closing plenary at the 2005 National Conference 
for Media Reform.

In Chicago, CAN TV will cablecast Bill Moyers' speech this weekend at 
these times and channels:

Sunday, May 22 at 11 a.m. on cable channel CAN TV21
Monday, May 23 at 9 a.m. on cable channel CAN TV19

For more, including airtimes on satellite, please visit:

http://www.cantv.org/moyers.htm

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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: http://www.chicagomediaaction.org
E-mail: cma@chicagomediaaction.org

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