Press Release
Consolidation Cuts Off Chicago Communities
Contact: Timothy Karr, 201-533-8838
CHICAGO -- This week, hundreds will attend a Federal Communications Commission hearing to tell all five commissioners how media consolidation has negatively impacted Chicago's diverse communities.
WHAT: FCC Hearing on Media Ownership
WHEN: Thursday, Sept. 20, 2007, 4-11 p.m.
WHO: FCC Commissioners, local leaders, media representatives and concerned citizens
WHERE: Rainbow PUSH National Headquarters, 930 East 50th Street, Chicago
Just four companies -- Tribune Co., ABC/Disney, NBC/GE and News Corp. -- control over half of Chicago's local news market. The FCC is considering sweeping changes to ownership rules that would expand the number of local television and radio stations and newspapers the largest media companies can own.
"TV news broadcasts throughout the Chicago media market spend more time touting themselves and their upcoming stories than they do covering local campaigns, government and elections," said David Morrison, deputy director of Illinois Campaign for Political Reform. "That these stations are owned by national corporations -- rather than locally -- is no coincidence."
Chicago is the nation's third-largest media market, but has one of the lowest levels of minority ownership among cities of its size and diversity. People of color make up nearly two-thirds of Chicago's population but own just 5 percent of the city's radio and TV stations. Women own just 6 percent of the city's broadcast stations, despite comprising half of the population.
"Every time young women in Chicago turn on the TV or the radio, they are confronted with images that criminalize their youth and over-sexualize their gender," said Stacy Erenberg of Females United For Action. "With so much media in the hands of so few people, these negative images have immense power to shape people's ideas and opinions about young women in our society. We need more female media owners and a greater youth voice."
"We The People Media exists because the mainstream media does not serve the 550,000 people who live below the poverty line in Chicago -- both by ignoring the information needs of the poor and by producing negative coverage of inner-city communities," added Ethan Michaeli, the group's founder and director. "The FCC needs to do a better job of making sure that broadcasters serve all of the people, not just those whom advertisers most want to reach."
To convince the FCC to allow further consolidation, Big Media companies -- including local giant Tribune Co. -- are claiming the Internet has made media ownership limits unnecessary. But a study by Free Press found that even online Chicago residents still overwhelmingly rely on traditional media outlets, such as Chicago Tribune and WGN-TV, for their local news and information.
"People in Chicago and across the country still depend on their local stations and newspapers to give them their local news -- which is why this week's media ownership hearing is so important," said Yolanda Hippensteele, outreach director of Free Press. "Before letting giant media corporations swallow up more local outlets, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin and the other commissioners need to hear how these Big Media firms are serving -- or failing to serve -- Chicago's diverse communities."
A broad range of local and national groups is urging its members to attend the hearing and testify about the impacts of media consolidation. They include the Benton Foundation, Chicago Access Network Television, Chicago Media Action, Chicago Urban League, Chicago Westside NAACP, Children Now, Common Cause, Communications Workers of America, Community Media Workshop, Community Renewal Society, Consumers Union, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Females United For Action, Free Press, Future of Music Coalition, Illinois Campaign for Political Reform, Illinois Campus Compact, Illinois PIRG, Latino Council on the Media, Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, Media and Democracy Coalition, Mid-Atlantic Community Papers Association, Midwest Gap Enterprises, The Newspaper Guild-CWA, Prometheus Radio Project, Rainbow PUSH Coalition, Radio-Television Broadcast Engineers Union I.B.E.W Local 1212, South Austin Coalition, United Church of Christ, Office of Communication Inc., We The People Media/Residents' Journal, Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, Bobby E. Wright Comprehensive Behavioral Health Center Inc. and WRTE Radio Arte.
To help the public prepare testimony and learn more about media issues, these groups are holding free public workshops all around Chicago.
For more information, visit www.StopBigMedia.com/=chicago
WHAT: FCC Hearing on Media Ownership
WHEN: Thursday, Sept. 20, 2007, 4-11 p.m.
WHO: FCC Commissioners, local leaders, media representatives and concerned citizens
WHERE: Rainbow PUSH National Headquarters, 930 East 50th Street, Chicago
Just four companies -- Tribune Co., ABC/Disney, NBC/GE and News Corp. -- control over half of Chicago's local news market. The FCC is considering sweeping changes to ownership rules that would expand the number of local television and radio stations and newspapers the largest media companies can own.
"TV news broadcasts throughout the Chicago media market spend more time touting themselves and their upcoming stories than they do covering local campaigns, government and elections," said David Morrison, deputy director of Illinois Campaign for Political Reform. "That these stations are owned by national corporations -- rather than locally -- is no coincidence."
Chicago is the nation's third-largest media market, but has one of the lowest levels of minority ownership among cities of its size and diversity. People of color make up nearly two-thirds of Chicago's population but own just 5 percent of the city's radio and TV stations. Women own just 6 percent of the city's broadcast stations, despite comprising half of the population.
"Every time young women in Chicago turn on the TV or the radio, they are confronted with images that criminalize their youth and over-sexualize their gender," said Stacy Erenberg of Females United For Action. "With so much media in the hands of so few people, these negative images have immense power to shape people's ideas and opinions about young women in our society. We need more female media owners and a greater youth voice."
"We The People Media exists because the mainstream media does not serve the 550,000 people who live below the poverty line in Chicago -- both by ignoring the information needs of the poor and by producing negative coverage of inner-city communities," added Ethan Michaeli, the group's founder and director. "The FCC needs to do a better job of making sure that broadcasters serve all of the people, not just those whom advertisers most want to reach."
To convince the FCC to allow further consolidation, Big Media companies -- including local giant Tribune Co. -- are claiming the Internet has made media ownership limits unnecessary. But a study by Free Press found that even online Chicago residents still overwhelmingly rely on traditional media outlets, such as Chicago Tribune and WGN-TV, for their local news and information.
"People in Chicago and across the country still depend on their local stations and newspapers to give them their local news -- which is why this week's media ownership hearing is so important," said Yolanda Hippensteele, outreach director of Free Press. "Before letting giant media corporations swallow up more local outlets, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin and the other commissioners need to hear how these Big Media firms are serving -- or failing to serve -- Chicago's diverse communities."
A broad range of local and national groups is urging its members to attend the hearing and testify about the impacts of media consolidation. They include the Benton Foundation, Chicago Access Network Television, Chicago Media Action, Chicago Urban League, Chicago Westside NAACP, Children Now, Common Cause, Communications Workers of America, Community Media Workshop, Community Renewal Society, Consumers Union, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Females United For Action, Free Press, Future of Music Coalition, Illinois Campaign for Political Reform, Illinois Campus Compact, Illinois PIRG, Latino Council on the Media, Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, Media and Democracy Coalition, Mid-Atlantic Community Papers Association, Midwest Gap Enterprises, The Newspaper Guild-CWA, Prometheus Radio Project, Rainbow PUSH Coalition, Radio-Television Broadcast Engineers Union I.B.E.W Local 1212, South Austin Coalition, United Church of Christ, Office of Communication Inc., We The People Media/Residents' Journal, Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, Bobby E. Wright Comprehensive Behavioral Health Center Inc. and WRTE Radio Arte.
To help the public prepare testimony and learn more about media issues, these groups are holding free public workshops all around Chicago.
For more information, visit www.StopBigMedia.com/=chicago
