CHICAGO MEDIA ACTION UPDATE, August 5, 2004
http://www.chicagomediaaction.org

This email is a reminder for two events this Tuesday, August 10, 
detailed below.

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There will be an important Chicago Media Action meeting for 
everyone this Tuesday night, August 10, 6pm, at the 
Lincoln-Belmont Library, 1659 W. Melrose.

The main discussion will be how to build on the publicity from CMA's recent
scholarly expose -- "Chicago Tonight: Elites, Affluence, and Advertising."

(Background on WTTW Channel 11, Chicago's main PBS affiliate, is available 
online: Read Michael Miner's Chicago Reader article July 23 at
www.chireader.com/hottype/2004/040723_1.html. Review the entire study
or a summary using the links at the top of www.chicagomediaaction.org.)

The meeting will be a chance to get to know each other better. And to start
a coalition of endorsing cosponsors.  And to strategize around ideas such as
a major public conference, pickets, boycotts, a license challenge, 
escrow accounts for pledges and donations, and more.

The meeting will be this Tuesday, August 10, 2004, at 6 pm (ending at 8:45
pm) at the Lincoln-Belmont Library, 1659 W. Melrose, which is just south
of the Brown Line's Paulina stop and about a block northwest of
Lincoln/Belmont/Ashland. (Specific CTA directions from anywhere are
available at www.chicagotransitauthority.com/maps/tripplanner.html and by
calling 836-7000 from any Chicagoland area code.)

"Nonprofit" corporation Window to the World Communications, Inc. receives
foundations' charitable donations, our government funds, and a special
Chicago Public Television license. Then it concentrates on serving up
affluent audiences to commercial advertisers.  It sees no illegal conflict of
interest in advertising for the directors' own companies, like Boeing
Company, LaSalle Bank, and Sara Lee Corporation.  And it promotes the
commercialization of all PBS national programs, including the many programs
for children.

We can spur a growing movement that will change Channel 11 away from being a
publicly subsidized 'upscale' commercial channel. We can change it into
being an honest Public Television channel, overseen by representatives who
work to serve the classes of people who are underserved by commercial
television.

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The next public hearing for the Chicago Cable Commission will be Tuesday, 
August 10, at 11 am, in the basement of the Harold Washington Library 
Center.  

The Chicago Cable Commission has imposed a series of restrictive public 
comment policies at commission meetings.  The Commission is now requiring 
comments to be submitted in writing in advance of the meeting, with 
oral comments limited to no more than two minutes, and comments deemed 
"redundant or irrelevant" may be disqualified at the commission's 
discretion.  

If you can't attend the hearing, you may want to comment about the 
Commission's new public comment policy by contacting the Chicago Cable 
Commission (phone: 312-744-4052, fax: 312-744-5440, or email: 
cable@cityofchicago.org).

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This is an email from Chicago Media Action, a Chicago activist
group devoted to media issues.

Chicago Media Action, P.O. Box 14140, Chicago IL 60614-0140  
Call toll-free: 1-866-260-7198  
Web: http://www.chicagomediaaction.org
E-mail: cma@chicagomediaaction.org

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