The deadline for public commentary on the current ownership rules that affect radio and television ownership is on January 2nd. Your participation is crucial. Go to http://www.aivf.org/advocacy/fcc.html On that page you will find explanations of all the rules that are being reviewed, and a link to a step by step guide on how you can enter your comments, and show the FCC that media concentration (IE - the creation of AOL/TimeWarner and others) does not reflect the interests of the independent thoughts of we the people.

Please forward far and wide. We have only a few days to curb further media corporate mergers. Below you can read the comments of one of the many who are participating in this action.

To the Honorable Commissioners of the FCC,

As a former broadcast and print journalist, I am writing to you today to comment on Docket No. 02-277, The Biennial Review of the FCC's broadcast media ownership rules. I support retaining all of the FCC rules in question. These rules set limits on concentration of the broadcast industry and serve the public interest by preserving diversity of ownership in the broadcast marketplace. These rules are; The Television-Radio Cross-Ownership Rule, The Broadcast-Newspaper Cross Ownership Ban, The National Television Ownership Rule, The Duopoly Rule for Radio, The Local Television Ownership Rule, and The Dual Network Rule. As so many in our culture forget, democracy is an ongoing project; it is one of forging a political culture (the creation of "citizens"). Democracy is not merely the absence of dictatorship and the presence of elections. An uneducated and uninformed populance is a mob, and its leaders demagoges. The forging of national citizenship is inherently a call for an educated populance, for public debate and informed decision-making. Lifting to current FCC rules against market concentration will act only AGAINST the development of these attributes. As we have witnessed, the rise of the consumer-culture in the '50s and dominance of corporate structures over everyday life has dovetailed with the deep depoliticization of the U.S. Not just are people no longer encouraged to seek out understandings of their lives and of our political situation, present conditions make this attempt almost impossible. Where is one to receive information when media outlets are increasing homogenized, when investigative reporting staffs are dispensed with, and when new independent media outlets are unable to achieve an audience because that audience itself has been dumbed-down by lifelong exposure to these condensed media forms - network television, or perhaps the ubiquitous homogenized newspaper, identical in every city? The lifting of current FCC regulations will not help address this siuation. In fact, it will act to hasten the already pathetic situation that is at hand. It will, however, act in the fiscal interests of powerful media conglomerates which already dominate the control of information that most domestic residents have access to. I urge you to retain the current rules.

lateral

Bush Admirer wrote:

>> "A better goal would be to cut off all government funding of Pacifica Radio and 'Socialism Now' with Amy Goodman. "<<

"Socialism Now"? Come now... can't you think of a better insult. Any voice of criticism you dismiss as "socialistic." What tripe. There's nothing more American than voicing your opinion. And yes... platforms for free speech should receive subsidies. Almost all media space for dialog and public discourse is currently OWNED by monopoly driven corporations. If you think you have access there you really do have your head on backwards. KPFK/Pacifica Radio is one of the last radio stations not controlled by corporate power... a place where diverse and non-commercial broadcasting is the rule... and you, with all of your hypocritical yapping about freedom and liberty, would see the station destroyed and turned into just another commercial station selling us Lite Beer and the latest war.

>> That's taxpayer monies being misappropriated for Anti-American partisanship. <<

But it's alright to spend our tax monies on an astronomical and bloated "defense" budget. No money for institutions that promote dialog and free speech... no money for the Arts, no money for Health Care, no money for Schools... BUT MOUNTAINS OF MONEY FOR THE MILITARY.

Can you define "anti-American partisanship" for me? What happened to free speech and the ideal of defending someone's right to say what they will... even if you disagree. The only anti-American around here is you.

When did America stop being a Republic and transform itself into an Empire? Good Roman... could you tell me? When did America turn into Sparta, that ancient martial nation that placed more value on war than it did anything else.

You may be a "Bush Admirer" but you're no conservative.

the debate of the punishers--

'black-block-head' vs. 'Bush Admirer'

unanswered questions



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the debate of media activists--

leftists vs. the CPB:

21 Nov 1999-- The Policy Committee of the Pacifica Listeners Union, consisting of Rafael Renteria, Bernie Eisenberg, Heidi Chesney (from the new KPFA chapter), and Michael Costello (ditto), presents its 15-point program for the reform of Pacifica and calls for a boycott of contributions until its enaction. Issues include replacement of the Pacifica National Board by an ELECTED interim board, a rewrite of the bylaws, and the end of CPB funding. This remains the radical agenda, and parts of it, sadly, are as far off as ever.

back to the point

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anticrisis