[Peace] Peace Activists Take Action: Say No to Corporate News (fwd)

[Matthew Reichel]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 8 May 2003 22:15:19 -0700
From: list at unitedforpeace.org
To: reichel at uiuc.edu
Subject: Peace Activists Take Action: Say No to Corporate News

JOIN US IN PETITIONING CONGRESS AND THE FCC ON MEDIA ISSUES!
http://www.moveon.org/stopthefcc

Dear Friend of United for Peace and Justice,

Anyone who paid attention to the media coverage of the war on Iraq and the =
anti-war movement knows that peace and justice activists must prioritize wr=
esting control of our media from profit-driven media corporations. In other=
 parts of the world, TV viewers learned about the human costs of war=8Bfrom=
 images of injured and dead Iraqi civilians to interviews with doctors and =
humanitarian workers. But on U.S. television, the war was presented as a vi=
deo game, full of images that glorified U.S. weaponry and commentary by for=
mer military generals and =B3embedded=B2 journalists whose identities blurr=
ed with those of their military units. This was the version of the war that=
 the U.S. government wanted the public to believe=8Bnot the reality on the =
ground in Iraq. This was also the version of the war that media outlets bel=
ieved would bring them viewers and advertising dollars.

And it gets worse

While Secretary of State Colin Powell led the U.S. invasion against Iraq, h=
is son, Michael Powell, head of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)=
, ramped up an attack on federal media regulations that could give the corp=
orate media even more power than it already has. We have already seen the e=
ffects of the 1996 media deregulation: five television companies--General E=
lectric (MSNBC and NBC), News Corp (Fox), Disney (ABC), AOL-Time Warner (CN=
N), and Viacom (CBS)--have a stranglehold on what information the public ge=
ts to know, and corporate radio behemoths like Clear Channel Communications=
 devour local radio stations and replace them with McRadio. If Powell has h=
is way, the situation will get even worse; there will be nothing standing i=
n the way of media companies=B9 drive for profits at the expense of our dem=
ocracy.


TAKE ACTION=8BTELL CONGRESS AND THE FCC TO STOP THE MEDIA DEREGULATION!

Please join United for Peace and Justice as we come together with Moveon.or=
g, Media Alliance, CodePink and Global Exchange to say no to the Bush Admin=
istration=B9s push to give free reign to the corporate media. We need to st=
rengthen the media ownership rules, not eliminate them!

Go to http://www.moveon.org/stopthefcc to sign a petition to the FCC that w=
ill also be sent to your Congress members and Senators. We need thousands o=
f people to sign this petition; this is our chance to speak out against med=
ia that puts corporate profit ahead of journalism and truth-telling!

In peace and solidarity,

Andrea Buffa
Leslie Cagan
Bill Fletcher Jr.
Co-chairs, United for Peace and Justice


BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON PROPOSED CHANGES TO MEDIA REGULATIONS

The following rules are being considered for modification or elimination by=
 the FCC. A decision from the FCC is expected in early June 2003.

=80 Newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership prohibition. Prevents broadcast TV =
companies from buying newspapers in communities in which they have TV stati=
ons. (Practical effect: NBC cannot buy Gannett News Service)

=80 Local radio ownership limit. Limits the number of local radio stations =
that any one broadcaster can own in a single market. (Practical effect: rig=
ht now Clear Channel can only own 8 stations in a local market.)

=80 National TV ownership limit. Limits the number of local broadcast stati=
ons any one broadcast company can own to systems serving 35% of the TV hous=
eholds in the U.S. (Practical effect: Prevents Viacom/CBS from buying anymo=
re broadcast systems, because it currently owns systems that reach 41% of t=
he public. Prevents Fox/Newscorp (Rupert Murdoch) from owning the other hal=
f.

=80 Local TV multiple ownership, aka =93duopoly rule.=94 Allows a broadcast=
 company to own two TV stations in the same market only if at least one of =
those stations is ranked below the top four stations and there are at least=
 eight independently owned-and-operating, full-power and noncommercial tele=
vision stations in that market. (Practical effect: Viacom/CBS can own PAX a=
s long as PAX remains a low ranked station in that market.)

=80 Radio/TV Cross-Ownership restriction. Prevents one company from owning =
both a radio station and a television station in the same market. (Practica=
l effect: Clear Channel cannot now own TV stations in markets where it owns=
 radio stations. Disney/ABC cannot control radio and TV stations in the sam=
e market.)

For more information, see this article:

SHOWDOWN AT THE FCC (http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=3D15796) Je=
ffrey Chester and Don Hazen, AlterNet
Despite wide protests and the Clear Channel debacle, the FCC is about to aw=
ard the nation's biggest media conglomerates a new give-away that will furt=
her concentrate media ownership in fewer hands. The impact on the American =
media landscape could be disastrous. Recent TV coverage of the Iraq war alr=
eady illustrates that US media companies aren't interested in providing a s=
erious range of analysis and debate. This overview describes what's at stak=
e and offers an introduction to several other articles.


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