[yshavurah] FW: CBS censoring political speech

From: Eric Friedland <efriedland@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: zack and rhana <dyme@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>,ed bergmann <edthenewyorklawyer@xxxxxxxxx>,ritter <absdayton@xxxxxxx>, al <adenman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,willis <stoes006@xxxxxxxxxx>, michael kent <michael.kent@xxxxxxxxxx>,bernard m <bemeh@xxxxxxxxxxx>,"benj. lariccia" <blaricci@xxxxxxxxxxx>,ys havurah <yshavurah@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>,youngkin <wyoungkin@xxxxxxxxxx>, bernard b <bernardbarsky@xxxxxxx>,bette r <OURLOONEYBIN@xxxxxxx>,xavier <Xavier.Monasterio@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,vernooy <jvernooy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,ullman <ullmanshome@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,cathy albanese <calbanese@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>,christine <cbergmann01@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,taylor <charles.taylor@xxxxxxxxxx>, darryl f <dfairchild@xxxxxxxxx>,rhonda <donatova@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>, elva <eacb@xxxxxxxxx>,anita ehrenfried <jbpotter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>,ted cooper <tedmcooper@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>, feist <rr.feiday@xxxxxxxx>,s fine <steven.fine@xxxxxx>, sarason <rsarason@xxxxxxxx>,"sarah a. stoesz" <sstoesz@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>,ron goldfarb <ron@xxxxxxxxxx>, seth s <sanders@xxxxxxxxxxxx>,william s <wschwartz@xxxxxxxxxxx>,siobhan <siobhan.semmett@xxxxxxxxxx>,d sofian <dsofian@xxxxxxxxxxxx>,herbstreit <kasper_herbstreit@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>, heyn <BTHeyn@xxxxxxx>,rusty <Hoovermoe@xxxxxxx>, hope bard <hopeb@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>,phil r <prothman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,michael remson <Ravremson@xxxxxxx>, rebecca j <rxj111@xxxxxxxxx>,rita <ritadushmanrich@xxxxxxxxxxx>, pearce <SSPearce@xxxxxxx>,nick <perscn@xxxxxxxxx>, soon <oaks.inc@xxxxxxxx (Sonia Jang)>,jacqui <jsand09@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>, jim <james.heft@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,joan knoll <jcknoll@xxxxxxxxxx>, marilyn l <mlustig@xxxxxxxx>,marsha <walnuthillsfideles@xxxxxxxxx>, karp <mkarp@xxxxxxxxxxx>,linda <iraoglick@xxxxxxx>, lynda <buby8@xxxxxxx>
Date: Thu, 22 Jan 2004 19:11:44 -0500

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From: RALPH <RWolff@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thu, 22 Jan 2004 13:00:02 -0800
To: "Eric L. Friedland (E-mail)" <efriedland@xxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: FW: CBS censoring political speech

Something for us all to be concerned about.

-----Original Message-----
From: Robert McChesney [mailto:rmcchesney@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Thursday, January 22, 2004 12:22 PM
To: info@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: CBS censoring political speech

If you are concerned about the state of the union, you should be concerned
about the state of the media.

Last week, CBS television censored free speech by refusing to sell airtime
to the MoveOn Voter Fund for a political ad during the Super Bowl. The ad is
critical of the Bush Administration's run-up of the federal deficit.

CBS - owned by media giant Viacom - says it doesn't run "controversial" ads
during the Super Bowl. But it plans to air a White House drug policy spot
during the game. The last such ad linked marijuana smoking to terrorism...
hardly uncontroversial.

It is no coincidence that the White House and the FCC are pushing through
new media ownership limits at the behest of CBS - efforts that activists and
public interest groups have been fighting. CBS/Viacom spent over $4 million
lobbying Congress in the last four years alone.

CBS is playing politics with the right to free speech: another example of
media monopoly's chilling effect on democratic debate.

We need your help to spread the word about CBS and the growing media crisis.
Many members of Congress continue to fight further media consolidation
because millions of Americans have pressured them to do so. This recent
insult proves that we need millions more.

First, forward this email to everyone you know who cares about free speech
and democracy.

Next, go to http://www.mediareform.net/media to learn more and sign up to be
a Free Press E-Activist. You will receive occasional (not frequent) emails
about media reform and how you can get involved. It's easy to subscribe and
unsubscribe.

Free Press is a national nonpartisan organization working to increase public
participation in crucial media policy debates, and to generate policies that
will produce a more competitive and public interest-oriented media system.
Information online at http://www.mediareform.net

Please join us as we build a media system that serves the public interest,
not just corporate interests. Our democracy depends on it.

Yours truly,
Robert McChesney
Author, Professor
Founder, Free Press

-----------------------

Media: A Quick Overview

The corporate monopolization of media is increasingly playing a critical
role in the declining quality of American democracy. Instead of a diverse,
skeptical, independent and competitive media system - the kind envisioned
and promoted by the nation's founders - the media give us dumbed-down
low-quality journalism (devastating, because corporate television is the
lens through which the vast majority of Americans understand the world);
skyrocketing commercialism with increased ads per hour on TV and radio,
product placement on TV and movies, on billboards, in schools and other
public spaces; corporate-sanctioned self-censorship (a la Dixie Chicks and
Bill Maher); a narrowing range of debate; abuse and atrophy of copyright
law; and wholesale giveaways of public resources, among others. Today, few
question the role the media now plays in undermining - rather than nurturing
- democracy and civil society.

When Freedom of the Press was inscribed in the First Amendment to the
Constitution, it was regarded as a social right of all citizens in a free
and self-governing society to have a well-funded, uncensored and lively
media system. Our media today remain the direct result of government
policies, but no longer are the policies the result of informed public
debate. Instead they are made quietly and corruptly behind closed doors by
self-interested commercial parties, where lucrative monopoly rights to TV
and radio channels and copyright extensions - for example - are doled out
with no return to the public.

Free Press (www.mediareform.net) is about returning to the classical notion
of Freedom of the Press: otherwise democracy and self-government are
unthinkable. We must renew the founding commitment at the grassroots and on
Capitol Hill to establishing the basis for a viable free press instead of
letting powerful special interest lobbyists fight it out behind closed
doors.

As Saul Alinsky said, "To defeat organized money, we need organized people."

P.S. Stay up to date on news relating to media reform with our free daily
headline service. Sign up at http://www.mediareform.net/news/deliveries.php

P.P.S. Support media reform by becoming a Free Press Action Fund member at
http://www.mediareform.net/support.php

Free Press www.mediareform.net

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[yshavurah] FW: CBS censoring political speech

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