[Imc-newsroom] Article from Urbana-Champaign IMC

[tinyninjas at yahoo.com]

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WIXY And WLRW's Saga Communications Fires Local Workers
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Tuesday, 07 January 2003
by emmag
Email: tinyninjas at yahoo.com


Summary: Corporate media's tactics and immediate dismissal of CU Cityview staff calls for comunity action.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Champaign, IL –- WIXY and WLRW’s 
Saga Communications fires local workers.

Champaign, IL -- Friday, January 3, 2003 -- The staff writers of the CU Cityview arrived at work today to find the locks changed on the Cityview office doors, and a posted memo stating that the newspaper was shut down. One day earlier, Saga Communications officers called staff editors and administrators into an unscheduled 4pm meeting, gave out press releases telling of the paper’s demise, and then told everyone to go home.  No prior notice about the paper’s closure was given to the staff of the CU Cityview. 

Founded in 1994 as the Optimist, an independently-run newsweekly focused on local issues and events, the CU Cityview has changed hands, names, and tone a number of times during its short tenure within Champaign-Urbana. Despite significant structural alterations, the paper had continued to claim a strong commitment to the Champaign-Urbana community. 

The motivation behind the paper's local commitment came into question as the newsweekly fell under the ownership of corporate owners.  The CU Cityview had been owned by Saga Communications, Inc. since September 2001.  Saga is a publicly-traded company that controls broadcast properties in 21 markets throughout the country, including 39 FM and 24 AM radio stations, 2 state radio networks, 1 farm radio network, 4 TV stations and 3 LPTV stations.  Locally, Saga owns and operates WIXY and WLRW. In 2001, Saga’s net revenue topped more than $104 million. 

According to FAIR, "Almost all media that reach a large audience in the United States are owned by for-profit corporations -- institutions that, by law, are obligated to put the profits of their investors ahead of all other considerations." The CU Cityview was one of many media sources to find the goal of maximizing profits to be in conflict with “community”-mindedness. 

While most major media outlets are owned by corporations, these parent companies are becoming larger and fewer in number, as the biggest ones absorb their rivals. This concentration of ownership tends to reduce the ability of media to represent local concerns, and puts great power in the hands of a few geographically and emotionally distant owners. As traditionally community-oriented news outlets fall under the watch of large conglomerates with holdings in many industries, conflicts of interest arise, pitting local worker welfare and politically charged coverage against projected profit margins. 

Write Saga, WIXY, WLRW, and their sponsors to let them know you will not patronize the businesses involved in the destructively dismissive treatment of our community and its members.  Actively support locally-based community media on WEFT 90.1FM, and in print through the Independent Media Center (IMC)’s Public I, Innocent Words, as well as other local efforts. 
 

Saga Communications
Suite 201
73 Kercheval Avenue
Grosse Pointe Farms, MI 48236


Mix 94.5/WLRW-FM & WIXY
2603 W. Bradley Ave.
Champaign, IL 61821
217 352-4141
 
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