[Imc-radio] headlines

[Sarah Lazare]

hi all, here are some headlines for this week.  does anyone have a headline 
for the anti-war rally (i was unable to attend).  sarah

>From us.indymedia.org:San Francisco Bay Area14 Apr 2005
On April 14, staff and students at the University of California held a 
statewide 1-day strike. The strike effected campuses throughout the UC 
system (Picket Info for all campuses), including UCSF, UC Santa Cruz, UC 
Davis, and UC Berkeley. The union that called for the strikes, AFSCME, 
represents service workers, who are among the lowest paid workers on the 
campuses. The union is struggling for a fair contract and for workers' 
(especially immigrant workers') rights. A recent report issued by the 
National Economic Development and Law Center found that 46% of UC service 
workers earned wages too low to support a family. It also found UC workers 
earning much less than workers at California State University (CSU) and many 
community colleges.

*******************************************************************************
from ucimc.org:
WCIA, local TV channel 3, was implicated in broadcasting program material 
supplied by the federal government without proper attribution. Despite the 
rather clear-cut nature of the violations and WCIA's denial that there was 
anything improper about it, the FCC apparently feels only a warning is 
needed. It remains to be seen if this will stop the illicit distribution of 
government proppaganda, since the Bush Administration has thumbed it nose at 
such legal concerns and asserted that it will continue the practice. Stay 
tuned for more and here's a link to earlier reporting on this issue on UC 
IMC: http://www.ucimc.org/feature/display/27870/index.php
WASHINGTON -- Responding to criticism over government videos being packaged 
as TV news reports, federal regulators reminded broadcasters Wednesday of 
rules requiring them to identify the source of such material.

Those rules "are grounded in the principle that listeners and viewers are 
entitled to know who seeks to persuade them" with TV programming, the 
Federal Communications Commission said in a public notice to broadcast 
licensees and cable operators.

Tens of thousands of people have asked the FCC to investigate the failure of 
broadcasters to disclose the source of the government videos, said 
Commissioner Michael Copps, adding that his agency should investigate each 
case.

The FCC is soliciting comments on the decades-old sponsorship identification 
rules and may seek to clarify them further.

The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy was criticized last 
year for a series of videos in which a narrator, sometimes identified as 
"Karen Ryan," said she was "reporting" on the office's activities. 
Separately, the Health and Human Services Department's Centers for Medicare 
and Medicaid Services produced video news releases, also narrated by "Karen 
Ryan," touting changes to Medicare.

The tapes were offered to local television stations for news programs. Some 
stations aired the videos without identifying their government origins.

Directly addressing such videos, the FCC said broadcast licensees and cable 
operators "generally must clearly disclose" to viewers the "nature, source 
and sponsorship of the material."

Violating the rules could result in a $10,000 fine, one year imprisonment or 
both.

"There's been a growing trend of broadcasters just putting on these 
so-called video news releases wholesale, and putting them on the air without 
letting the public know it may be from a government agency or it may be from 
a big corporation," said FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein. "So the public 
thinks it looks like a news story, and they don't realize that in fact 
somebody that may have an agenda is trying to influence their thought."

In addressing the issue from the perspective of broadcasters, the FCC 
largely sidesteps recent disagreements between congressional investigators 
and the Justice Department over the legality of video news releases.

The Government Accountability Office in February warned federal agencies 
that such productions might violate a government prohibition against the use 
of taxpayer money for propaganda. But the Justice Department in March 
concluded the practice was appropriate as long as the videos presented 
factual information about government programs.

*******************************************************************************
from ucimc.org:
Come out to the town of Clinton next Tuesday, April 19, to voice your 
opposition to Exelon's plan to build a new nuclear reactor here in Illinois.
This meeting, hosted by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, will allow 
members of the public to give transcribed, on-the-record comments about new 
reactors in Illinois and their environmental, health and safety impacts.

While the time allocated for each individual to give comments will be only 
several minutes, the impact will be huge. This is the one and only public 
meeting to discuss the negative environmental consequences the new reactors 
will have on Clinton Lake, the central Illinois region, and our country's 
energy future. There's likely to be a substantial media presence there, so 
high turnout among opponents of the project will be important.

Illinois already has more nuclear reactors than any other state and has 
tremendous untapped renewable energy potential. As a nation, we can't afford 
to start down the road of nuclear power again, after a 30-year hiatus. 
Nuclear power continues to rely heavily on taxpayer subsidies because it is 
so expensive, and draft language in the energy bill in the current Congress 
indicates billions more dollars could be on the way. There is still no 
solution to the waste problem; the proposed nuclear waste dump at Yucca 
Mountain is in a downward spiral and wouldn't be large enough to hold waste 
from a new reactor even if it did go forward. Safety continues to be 
sacrificed in favor of higher profits by both the industry and the NRC. And 
security standards at nuclear plants are downright pathetic.

Please help us put a stop to nuclear power once and for all by attending 
this public meeting.

WHEN: 7-10 p.m. April 19 (get there early to rally in opposition!)
WHERE: Clinton Junior High School, 701 Illini Drive, Clinton, Ill.

Please encourage family and friends to attend also. If you'd like to speak 
at the meeting, be sure to arrive at least 30 minutes early to register, or 
e-mail ClintonEIS (at) nrc.gov.

Also, Public Citizen is co-sponsoring a rally at the school at 6 p.m. with 
speakers from the local No New Nukes group, the Nuclear Information and 
Resource Service, the Nuclear Energy Information Service (based out of 
Evanston, Ill.) and Public Citizen. If you are unable to attend on Tuesday, 
we encourage you to send written comments by May 25 via e-mail to ClintonEIS 
(at) nrc.gov.