|
22 Jul 03 - 12:11 PM (#988192) Subject: BS: Kill the Media Moguls & Monopolies From: GUEST Tired of just bitching about the distortions and lies coming from mainstream media monopolies? Fed up with the #1 corporate strategy (manipulating the media and news, to skew and distort the views of the electorate) for undermining our democracy? Well, now you can stop talking and DO SOMETHING about spin sin! Free Press Media Reform Network From their website: "We are barraged with advertising. Journalism has become dumbed-down entertainment. The range of news analysis and debate is shrinking along with the diversity of media ownership, placing an extraordinary degree of economic and social power in a very few hands. Our current media system is the result of explicit government policies that are drafted by special interests behind closed doors in Washington, and serving private investors first and foremost, not public citizens. Vibrant, diverse and independent media is the cornerstone of a functional democracy. As corporate-crafted media policies increasingly weaken the foundations of our democracy, people increasingly understand that corporate control of the media is perhaps the most critical issue of our day. As they say "they who control the news, control the views." Founded by author and professor Robert McChesney, Free Press is a national non-profit media reform organization working to: 1. Open, democratize and ignite media policy debates 2. Increase advocacy efforts in Washington connected to grassroots outreach across the nation 3. Strengthen the media reform network and the broader movement 4. Make media a bona fide issue in America — through innovative grassroots and communications strategies and working with partner organizations Free Press policy initiatives aim to: 1. Reassert anti-trust protections to limit media consolidation 2. Expand and insulate funding for public broadcasting 3. Reduce advertising and marketing to children on television and the internet 4. Create public subsidies and otherwise encourage non-commercial media 5. Secure free airtime for political candidates 6. Develop government incentives aimed at encouraging and protecting minority ownership of broadcast and cable outlets 7. Establish copyright laws that protect the public domain as well as media corporations 8. Promote newspaper and magazine competition through the use of tax deductions or subsidies. The birth of Free Press reflects a growing awareness that media reform is essential to fostering a functional democracy and advancing issues that most people actually care about. Free Press is working with existing media reform organizations to make the media reform movement a more bold and proactive force to advance meaningful media policy in the public interest." |