Ah, summertime, when the days are long and the possibilities are endless. But are you already tiring of the BBQs and the sunsets? Don’t fret. Here’s a list of the top five things you should do this summer, in no order of importance:
1. Eat more ice cream than a six-year-old left alone with a stool and an open freezer
2. Laze about
3. Fawn over the new Batman movie but giggle over Christian Bale’s super hero voice
4. Paddle something – a canoe, a kayak, a blow-up raft
5. Petition your representatives in Congress to stop more media consolidation
When I said the list was in no order of importance, I fibbed. Urging your representatives to veto media consolidation is one of the most significant things you could do all summer.
Just two weeks ago, we launched a campaign to get 100 House Representatives to co-sponsor legislation that would reject the FCC’s recent decision to allow media conglomerates to control more local news and information.
Already, 41 lawmakers have joined the fight, which means we’re nearly halfway there. But it also means we have halfway to go. We need your help to ensure that Big Media doesn’t get any bigger. So put down your summer reading – you were never going to get through War and Peace anyway – and tell your representatives to take a stand.
Broadcasters can rest easy and not worry about covering local elections in Chicago and Milwaukee thanks to an FCC decision released last week.
Two public interest groups, Chicago Media Action (CMA) and the Milwaukee Public Interest Media Coalition, had appealed to the FCC to reject the license renewals of these TV stations. The Commission ruled that the groups did not prove that the stations were operating in “bad faith.”
But the FCC didn’t address serious allegations that broadcasters are not living up to their public interest obligations. The CMA’s research showed that during the 2004 election campaign, all of Chicago’s full-power TV stations “failed to present adequate programming relating to state and local elections.” In the month leading up to the federal election, five stations dedicated less than 1 percent of their stories to local election coverage.
It’s not just local election coverage that gets purged from newscasts, and it’s not just happening in these two towns. Across the nation, and to the detriment of our civic participation, broadcasters are devoting less air time to local news stories. Why? Most TV station owners are far removed from the local communities where they’re broadcasting, giving them little incentive to invest in local, on-the-ground reporting.
But if you thought newscasts about local candidates running for office were elusive now, it could get much worse unless we stop media consolidation. The FCC last December voted to further gut media ownership limits and let a few giant corporations swallow up more local outlets.
The Senate has already voted to reject this rule, and now it’s up to the House to do the same. And it’s also up to you. Act today to stop media consolidation in its tracks, so we can begin to give our local elections the coverage and scrutiny they deserve.
In just a few weeks members of Congress will pack up their DC offices and return home for their annual summer break. But before they leave, they need to hear from you about why stopping further media consolidation must be a top priority. We are mounting a summer of action and we need your help to kick it off.
In May, the Senate voted to stop Big Media by passing a “resolution of disapproval,” which rejected the Federal Communications Commission’s latest effort to consolidate local media. We won in the Senate. We can win again in the House.
To do this, we need to get 100 co-sponsors in the next 100 days to support the House version of the bill (H.J. Res. 79). This summer, we’ll be delivering hundreds of thousands of petitions at in-district meetings with key members of Congress. Make sure your voice is heard.
By acting now you can ensure that there are thousands of petitions ready to be delivered when your U.S. representative sets foot back in your district for the summer congressional recess. Tens of thousands of people already have signed the petition, and 30 members of Congress have agreed to co-sponsor the bill. But we need to do more to swing a majority in the House.
And we don’t have much time. We plan to deliver the signatures in August, when elected representatives leave D.C. for the summer.
Just because we saw a woman within reach of a presidential nomination doesn’t mean the mainstream media have covered the 2008 race with gender equality in mind. From bashing Michelle Obama to calling black women “angry” to consistently labeling Sen. Hillary Clinton a bitch, the mainstream media have displayed one outrageous sexist moment after another.
But don’t trust me - the National Organization for Women has the evidence to prove it. They’ve launched a Media Hall of Shame and are listing the worst offenders in this season’s election coverage, from TV, radio, print, Web and political cartoons. NOW is asking for your help in ranking the “Shamers” on a sexism scale they’ve dubbed the “Misogyny Meter.” They’ll present the top offenders at this year’s national NOW conference in July.
And just how does sexism work its way into the everyday dialogue of political pundits, news anchors and columnists? Well it doesn’t help that media consolidation has squeezed women out of top-level positions at media outlets. Women own just 5 percent of commercial broadcast television stations and 6 percent of all full-power radio stations.
“If we are to create a media environment that covers issues important to women, that treats women with respect, promotes their voices and opinions and portrays them as three-dimensional human beings, we must have more women at the very top calling the shots,” said NOW in a press statement. “The same goes for people of color and other traditionally disenfranchised groups.”
The situation could be getting worse if the FCC is allowed to follow through with plans to let media conglomerates own ever more media outlets. The Senate has already passed a “resolution of disapproval” to thwart the FCC’s plans. It’s now up to the House to do the same.
We’ve launched a campaign to get 100 co-sponsors for the House version of this crucial legislation. Already, 31 representatives have joined. But we’ve got 69 more to go, which means we need your help.
Katy Parrish didn’t know what she would find when she sat down at her computer five years ago and typed the words “alternative media” into a search engine. She was outraged at the mainstream media’s coverage of the war in Iraq, and her local media in Anchorage, Alaska wasn’t much better.
A few months later, she was on a plane headed to Madison, WI to attend Free Press’ first National Conference for Media Reform. Parrish said she was so inspired by the people she met during the conference, she “came home with this fire in my belly to create awareness around media consolidation.”
After organizing community forums and teaching media literacy workshops, Parrish was tapped to run a new non-profit community television station in Anchorage, KACN-TV. The low-power station was created to “provide a ‘voice’ for Alaskans and address the polarization and disparity experienced by many” as other local and national commercial stations dismissed their public interest obligations.
The station offers training to both youth and adults in videography, television production, computer training, and media literacy.
“When people get their hands on [media tools] and realize they have access, they start understanding that there are only a few companies controlling the information that they’re receiving,” Parrish said. “It’s like these light bulbs go off as far as how [media consolidation] is impacting democracy.”
Not only are citizen journalists able to broadcast their own videos and news stories, but Parrish said the station airs public interest documentaries. “We have the ability to broadcast documentaries that typically people would not see,” she said. “So here you have rural Alaska seeing a movie and that content is not being seen anywhere up here at other stations.”
Watching people become empowered and take back their media gives Parrish hope.
“Prior to stumbling upon alternative media, I was pretty cynical about where we were headed as a country,” she said. “I still have my bouts of cynicism, but every time I see one person become inspired and be able to share their stories and their voices, and see other people realize that they can share their story, I just know we can rise above all of this insanity.”
This is a guest blog from Arron Wings, a charter member of Iowans for Better Local TV.
You might have seen some of the coverage the national press gave to recent floods in Iowa. It was a dramatic event that frequently brought comparisons to Hurricane Katrina. Eighty-three of Iowa’s 99 counties have been declared disaster areas and some of the worst damage was done in Cedar Rapids, where it is estimated that up to one-fifth of the population was displaced by the damage.
Before the flood waters had receded in many areas, Sue Toma, the executive director of the Iowa Broadcasters Association, sent a letter to Chairman Kevin Martin of the Federal Communications Commission extolling the performance of the broadcast stations in Iowa. She said that because broadcasters had responded so well during the crisis, the FCC did not need to strengthen localism requirements. She called the broadcasters’ performance their “finest hour” and said, “I can’t help but note that the Iowa floods come at a time when well-meaning but misguided activists are questioning broadcasters’ commitment to localism.”
It is true that many of the broadcast stations performed admirably and spent long portions of the day providing live coverage without commercials. One of the Cedar Rapids stations, KCRG-TV 9, was particularly admirable in that it remained (with permission) in an evacuation area, functioned with back-up electricity, and at least once moved their set outside because it became quite warm in the building with no air-conditioning. The news staff spent long hours in front of the cameras and provided a great service to the community. The other “local” station, KGAN-TV 2, owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, performed similarly, but with few local employees; they needed to bring in additional crews from other areas to provide the coverage.
But to argue that an admirable response to a crisis negates the need for localism is to miss the point.
Community Service Not Just for Times of Crisis
Local broadcasters should show the minimal level of service to the community that is required of them at all times — not just during a crisis. In exchange for the use of our public airwaves, broadcasters are required to operate their stations in the public interest. Despite this requirement, it appears that broadcasters can choose to provide any or no service to the community. They may choose, as these Iowa broadcasters did, to provide good local disaster coverage. But there is practically no enforcement for them to provide similar community service the other 51 weeks of the year.
In December, the FCC passed new rules that require broadcasters to air more local programming. To obtain a license renewal, the broadcaster’s main station would have to be located within the city of the broadcaster’s license. Additionally, the station would have to adopt community advisory boards, demonstrate local content, and staff the station during all broadcast hours. Broadcasters have been fighting these rules since the FCC’s announcement.
Holding Media Accountable
Another aspect of localism is accountability. How does a community that feels it is not being served by a broadcast company redress that situation? Currently, there is almost no redress. Back in December 2005, my local group, Iowans for Better Local TV, filed a petition to deny the renewal of the license of KGAN-TV 2, the Sinclair-owned station mentioned above.
Thirty months later, the FCC has taken no action on our petition. It was not that long ago that broadcast licenses were only good for 36 months. Now, in this era of license periods of eight years and “postcard renewals,” there appears to be no meaningful accountability by a broadcaster to the community they serve.
So yes, the “Flood of 2008,” as it is now being called, could possibly have been the Iowa Broadcasters’ “finest hour.” But more localism would require them to act in the public interest at other times as well.
Thanks to you, last month the Senate passed a critical bill that is the first step to stopping the FCC from letting Big Media get even bigger. Now the House must do the same.
Today we’re launching a “100 Co-sponsors in 100 Days” drive. It’s an all-out effort to get 100 House members to sign-on to the Resolution of Disapproval (H.J. Res. 79), which overturns the FCC’s giveaway to conglomerates. With your help this can happen before summer’s end.
By taking action, you’ll help unleash targeted pressure to make the resolution a “must-pass” item on the House agenda by the end of the summer. What does 100 members of Congress get us? It establishes a foundation of support in Congress, it shines a spotlight on media consolidation, and it sends a message to Big Media lobbyists that the people won’t stand for any more junk media. Success will mean a vote for more diverse voices and perspectives on the airwaves, and more locally owned media. Here’s how we’ll do it:
mobilize supporters and activists in targeted districts around the country, and giving them the resources they need for success;
flood local Congressional offices with phone calls, faxes, e-mails, and in-person visits while members are home during the recess;
gain greater press coverage on the media ownership fight in the House and where local lawmakers stand; and
organize local events to increase public and political awareness of the veto resolution and its monumental importance.
With your support, we will work with communities across the country and take your message up to Capitol Hill, confronting the Big Media lobbyists on their turf.
Together we helped thousands of people raise their voices and shout “ENOUGH!” to media consolidation. And Congress is finally getting the message. Now we need to harness this growing energy and focus it on the House of Representatives to win final passage of the FCC veto, and keep Big Media from gobbling up more local newspapers and television stations.
We’re counting on you to make this effort a success.
When Sami Kubo, an 18-year-old filmmaker in Seattle, testified at the FCC hearing on media ownership last November, she wanted to tell the commissioners “something that only a young person could tell them.” Kubo told the panel that the FCC cannot further consolidate media ownership, and that young people in particular are being hurt by Big Media.
But young people don’t want others speaking for them, so I won’t do that here. Instead, watch the great new documentary produced by teen filmmakers Sami Muilenburg and Brooke Noel, which features Kubo’s testimony. The short film, “A Generation of Consolidation” explores the impact that media consolidation has on youth as both media consumers and media makers.
Kudos to Reel Grrls, a Seattle-based non-profit media literacy and filmmaking program for teenage girls, which produced the film. Not only does the documentary speak to our disastrous U.S. media system, it highlights youth to tell the story.
The mainstream media’s latest pseudo-news obsession was exposed on Monday night’s episode of “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart,” when host Stewart mocked the media for its role in spreading false and often ridiculous rumors about Sen. Barack Obama. Stewart shows clips from several network news anchors repeating Internet rumors as fact or real news. Watch the clip.
While this is just a humorous video ridiculing the mainstream media’s version of journalism, his guest later during the program highlighted the seriousness of the problems with American news coverage.
Lara Logan, CBS Chief Foreign Correspondent, talked about the challenges of convincing networks to broadcast in-depth coverage of what is really going on in Iraq and Afghanistan. “If I were to watch the news you hear in the United States, I would just blow my brains out because it would just drive me nuts,” she said in response to a question about whether she watches U.S. news.
Logan says Americans are not getting the full story from the media, and that her stories have to compete for air time against Britney Spears and Paris Hilton. She said that we shouldn’t have to choose between coverage on Iraq or Afghanistan, but instead the media should be covering both wars. Watch the clip.
Stewart’s segment reminds us of all the ways the mainstream media has failed the public this year. In April, the New York Times exposed a secret – and likely illegal — Pentagon plan to spread favorable views of the war by recruiting and planting military analysts in the nation’s news media. With only a few exceptions, the media have ignored this important story, and in some cases continued to use its influence to spread propaganda through the airwaves. Learn more at http://www.freepress.net/pentagon_propaganda.
We can make a difference to stop the media from spreading misinformation, rumors and government and corporate propaganda. Take action to demand better journalism.
We’ve done a lot of research to show that media consolidation has resulted in a dearth of female ownership of media. But this gender exclusion extends far beyond who owns the news, and affects who is sought after as credible sources for news stories. And it certainly isn’t women.
This week, Jennifer Pozner of Women in Media & News followed up a session at this year’s NCMR titled, “There Is No Media Justice Without Women: Strategies for Feminist Social Justice Media Activism,” with a blog post aptly lamenting the hush of female voices as experts, pundits and sources in the media. She wrote: “Too many news outlets — not only corporate media, but some of our progressive and independent publications as well — still marginalize women as sources and experts in their stories, as decision-makers on the mastheads and as commentators on the op-ed pages. This is especially true for women of color, whose opinions are largely invisible in the pundit class.”
Pozner goes on to debunk all the lame excuses news outlets use to keep women’s voices out of the media. But as she points out, there’s one reason for the lack of female representation that can’t be discredited – media consolidation. Unfortunately, when only a handful of mostly male-run corporations own all of the media, diverse viewpoints don’t rise to the top. A 2005 study by the Project for Excellence in Journalism found that news outlets rely on men as sources twice as often as women.
The National Organization of Women has also been instrumental in fighting for diversity in the media. In a press release after the Senate victory to roll back FCC media consolidation rules, NOW said, “If we are to create a media environment that covers issues important to women, that treats women with respect, promotes their voices and opinions and portrays them as three-dimensional human beings, we must have more women at the very top calling the shots. The same goes for people of color and other traditionally disenfranchised groups.”
The Feminist Peace Network blog this week piggybacked on Pozner’s writing, calling for gender justice in media to become “an integral part of the media reform agenda.” The blog quoted a handful of the women who attended NCMR, including Andi Zeisler, cofounder and editorial director of Bitch: Feminist Response to Pop Culture, who said, “A media that both reflects and prioritizes the lives and voices of women—all women—is crucial not only to the development of a well-informed populace, but to the development of a new generation of thinkers and leaders inspired to make media that’s open-minded, democratic, and challenging.”
