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UN NAMES 10 MOST UNDER-REPORTED STORIES FOR 2006 Every year, the United Nations publishes a list of the 10 most serious stories most overlooked by global press. Developing nations, whose situations are often misunderstood or dismissed by news media, as too complicated, intractable, or of marginal relevance, take the spotlight this year. [Full Story] PRESS FREEDOM IS EVERYONE'S FREEDOM The freedom of the press is the freedom of the American people. Not its guarantor, not a metaphorical representation of freedom as an idea, not even merely a mainstay of a free system. A free and independent press is American liberty at work, building and defending itself against the slide toward secret or arbitrary exercise of power, as conceived within or beyond the legal process. [Full Story] CHINA PLANS "SMOKELESS WAR" AGAINST PRESS, DISSIDENTS China's president Hu Jintao has reportedly called for an intensive crackdown on media liberties. While China's government has sought to project an image of a more market-oriented, open system, it continues to forbid basic press freedoms and still persecutes journalists at an alarming rate. [Full Story]
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CLEAR CHANNEL PLAN TO SWITCH AIR AMERICA RADIO TO ALL-SPORTS FORMAT PROVOKES PUBLIC OUTCRY
OF 25 SUCH FORMAT 'FLIPS' OVER 18 MONTHS, ZERO HAVE PRODUCED HIGHER RATINGS THAN THE CANCELLED PROGRESSIVE TALK FORMAT 31 August 2007 In San Diego, California, the sixth largest city in the United States, Clear Channel is planning to shut down the city's only progressive radio station, Air America, a nationally-syndicated talk radio format that often voices criticism of the national conservative social agenda, Republican party activities and big business interests. All of these have traditionally held strong sway over the military-centered mainstream of San Diego society. Critics say Clear Channel is trying to prevent Air America from spreading its progressive political message to a market seen in both popular ideology and voting patterns as a Republican stronghold. (It is instructive to note here that Clear Channel banned the Dixie Chicks from its airwaves nationwide after the lead singer said she was "embarrassed" to be from the same state as the current president, George W. Bush. Clear Channel claims it did not 'ban' the band's music, but that another company did, while Clear Channel stations individually chose to either "suspend" play or increase it, depending on perceptions of market environment.) There are also rumors that the Carlyle Group, a massive international private equity firm may be planning to make an offer to buy Clear Channel. Carlyle's board of directors has at times included Pres. Bush as well as his father, former US Sec. of State, family friend and head of Bush's election litigation team in 2000, James Baker, former Sec. of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, and whose top investors have included members of the Bin Laden family. Carlyle's holdings include numerous stock interests in major defense contractors, aerospace manufacturers and industrial giants. Far from any specific conspiracy theory, concern for a free press in such a takeover would be the wish of major corporate owners to program or control media they own. Carlyle was found to have purchased web domains associated with a site critical of its business and political connections. Due to the extensive portfolio of its defense and aerospace holdings, Carlyle is considered by some analysts to be the single biggest interest profiting from US military activity. Taking over Clear Channel would, in theory, give the Carlyle Group control of over 1,100 radio stations across the United States, more than 9% of all radio signals, according to Clear Channel's website. Whether or not this occurs, Clear Channel's behavior in the Air America case is troubling, primarily because its plan is to replace the station with an "all-sports format", meaning: 1) less political news, dissenting positions and critical analysis in that market; 2) they are choosing a format which is dubious on its face because the market is already served and because elsewhere such switches have turned out to lower ratings. NonStop Radio, a watchdog committed to protecting progressive talk radio in markets where it is marginal or being squeezed out, reports that of 25 format changes from progressive talk to sports, over the course of 18 months, none have produced a ratings increase. Aldous Tyler, spokesman for NonStop Radio, is quoted as saying "Of those 25 format flips, not a single one has performed as well in their market as progressive talk did on that same signal". This would suggest that it is not a wise business decision for Clear Channel to move forward with the progressive talk to all-sports 'flip'. Two senators, Democratic presidential candidate Mike Gravel, and the Republican mayor of La Mesa, Art Madrid, have joined with reporters, broadcasters, hundreds of demonstrators, media analysts and a petition campaign, to call for Clear Channel not to eliminate San Diego's only progressive radio programming. Madrid said the station is needed in order for the public to hear voices both sides of the political spectrum. He added that he found the station's commentators often "more lucid, credible and genuinely concerned for the total welfare of this country than many of their conservative counterparts. Poll after poll continues to reflect the public’s outrage in the manner our constitution is being shredded; this fact is never pointed out by the other side." Madrid went on to state that "As a lifelong registered Republican, I and large numbers of other 'R's are offended by how the party has been hijacked by self-serving zealots… It’s not easy for some to accept the fact that having a different perspective is not unpatriotic." Clear Channel, for its part, claims it does not persecute political dissenters and that it has never "banned" artists whose messages promote anti-Bush or anti-war positions. It states on its website that:
This 'creed' spurs the question: what part of "honest, open communication" explains why a major commercial radio powerhouse would mysteriously cancel a radio service which it has not adequately broadcast —critics say complaints are widespread in the San Diego market that the signal for KLSD has always been significantly weaker or more intermittent than other talk radio formats—, when the switch it proposes has repeatedly been shown to be less commercially beneficial? US media is seeing an intensified effort by mass-media conglomerates and telecommunications firms to drive programming of content, either for commercial or political [with commercial ends] reasons, which means a choking off of free and independent voices in the national press. This is occurring just when the evolution of the Internet has put the meaning of freedom of information or press freedom in the balance.
NET NEUTRALITY / MASS-MEDIA CONTROL: When Pearl Jam singer Eddie Vedder asked Pres. Bush to "leave this world alone" in song, online viewers watching Lollapalooza via AT&T's 'Blue Room' webcast were not able to hear it. The company cut the political lyrics from the webcast in what band-members, fans and net-neutrality advocates have called blatant censorship. AT&T blamed an outside contractor and apologized for the 'mistake'... The band issued a statement on its fansite, characterizing the situation as follows: "AT&T's actions strike at the heart of the public's concerns over the power that corporations have when it comes to determining what the public sees and hears through communications media"... Savetheinternet.com, in its introductory information to the issue of Net Neutrality, explains that "Editorial boards at the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, San Jose Mercury News, Seattle Times, St. Petersburg Times and Christian Science Monitor all have urged congress to save the Internet." [Full Story] NET NEUTRALITY: A NECESSARY PRINCIPLE FOR MAINTAINING GLOBAL DEMOCRATIC STANDARDS The concept of 'net neutrality' refers to the current state of affairs in the free democracies of the world, where those who control the physical infrastructure of the Internet are not allowed to police its content or to charge for provider-user access. It is a vital ingredient in the make-up of the Internet, because it guarantees the freedom of information that makes the web so useful to free society and so valuable to those who do well what works in that open environment. [Full Story] VERSIÓN EN ESPAÑOL: El concepto de la 'neutralidad de internet' se refiere al estado actual en los países libres, donde aquellos que controlan la infraestructura física de internet no pueden manipular ni controlar el contenido de los que publican contenido en esa red. Es un ingrediente elemental para garantizar la libertad de información que hace que la web sea tan útil y tan valiosa para la sociedad libre y abierta. [Texto completo] BILL MOYERS RELAYS THE GOOD NEWS OF NET NEUTRALITY 'VICTORIES' Journalist Bill Moyers explains how Net Neutrality is really about stipulating for all media regulations an 'Equality of Access provision' like that imposed on AT&T after "Free Press and SavetheInternet.com orchestrated 800 organizations, a million and a half petitions... a top-shelf communications campaign. Who would have imagined that sitting together in the same democratic broadband pew would be the Christian Coalition, Gun-owners of America, Common Cause and MoveOn.org?" [Go to video] DEATH OF THE INTERNET: WHY NET NEUTRALITY IS VITAL TO THE INFORMATION SOCIETY Lays out the rudimentary principles of NET NEUTRALITY, the concept which has governed the open, global internet until now, wherein no network managers can control what content you are able to view over the internet; that standard is now threatened by major phone and cable providers (ISPs) and by legislation passed by the House in 2006. [Go to video]
BACKGROUND: The foundation of a free society is a press with the freedom to criticize instruments of power and influence and to reveal wrongdoing as it actually takes place. War is not a sufficient reason to institute a system of broad censorship criteria or to rein in the news media, as if they posed a direct threat to the wellbeing of the nation. But increasingly, it appears that American news media are intolerant of facts as such, waiting for members of the government themselves to come forward with complaints. [Full Story] GOOGLE TO COLLABORATE IN CENSORING INFORMATION DELIVERED TO CHINESE USERS The premier internet search engine Google has launched a new Chinese service, under the domain Google.cn, which it will voluntarily censor in keeping with the mandates of Chinese authorities. The announcement came earlier this week, as the Davos trade talks opened and on the same day as China's government announced it was ordering the closing of a weekly newspaper known for publishing articles on topics the Chinese Communist party's propaganda office had banned or which included criticism of government policy. [Full Story]
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