Question: What is the single most valuable piece of property worth owning at the dawn of the information age? Answer: The radio frequencies–the electromagnetic spectrum–over which an increasing amount of communication and commercial activity will be broadcast in the era of wireless communications. Our PCs, palm pilots, wireless Internet, cellular phones, pagers, radios, and television all rely on the radio frequencies of the spectrum to send and receive messages, pictures, audio, data, etc. Continue reading GLOBAL MEDIA GIANTS LOBBY TO PRIVATIZE ENTIRE BROADCAST SPECTRUM. by Jeremy Rifkin.→
High school students continue to find that their First Amendment rights are invisible to school administrators, despite years of struggle against censorship. In the ’60s, students at some schools published underground papers because their school-run papers were so heavily censored. In the ’70s and ’80s, a consensus grew that First Amendment protections extended to the official student press, and school newspapers were allowed to tackle controversial topics. But high school journalists found this freedom short-lived. In a 1988 case involving Hazelwood East High School near St. Louis, where student journalists wanted to publish stories on teenage pregnancy and divorce in the school newspaper, the U. S. Supreme Court ruled five to three that principals have the right to censor school papers. The majority opinion said that school-sponsored newspapers and similar activities are not intended as a public forum for student views, but are part of the curriculum and therefore subject to official control to ensure that they meet program purposes. After announcing the decision, Justice Byron R. White added that a school need not tolerate student speech that is incongruous with the educational goals of the institution–although the government could not censor similar speech outside school grounds. Continue reading STUDENTS STRUGGLE AGAINST CENSORSHIP, by Lian Cheun→
Media bashing has become a reflex for many, but critical analysis of what we read, listen to, and watch is what’s essential. As Media Alliance’s mission statement puts it, “To ensure the free and unfettered flow of information and ideas necessary to maintain a truly democratic society, media must be accessible, accountable, decentralized, representative of society’s diversity, and free from covert or overt government control and corporate dominance.” The basic principle here was stated more succinctly by Jim Hightower, quoting unknown cowboys: “Always drink upstream from the herd.” It is with these thoughts in mind that we assembled this media criticism reading list. Continue reading READ ‘EM AND THINK (CRITICALLY): A media criticism reading list, by Gabe Martinez and Akilah Monifa→
Writers and photographers during the Vietnam war considered it their responsibility to expose the lies of the Pentagon’s propaganda machine, and they often did so brilliantly. But reporters during Desert Storm and in the war in Afghanistan have generally accepted a different role, willingly or unwillingly, and pictured those wars within the political limits dictated by Generals Schwartzkopf and Franks. Continue reading INTERVIEW: LINDA FOLEY, PRESIDENT NEWSPAPER GUILD. by David Bacon.→
The Pacifica radio network, the nation’s only listener-sponsored community radio network, has recently emerged from a period of unprecedented turmoil, one that threatened its very survival as an oasis of free speech and dissent, a forum for news and radical analysis, and a venue for serious music and art. Continue reading MEDIA DEMOCRACY: PACIFICA VICTORY LAYS GROUNDWORK FOR MOVEMENT. by Juan Gonzalez.→
The convergence of activists on the recent World Trade Organization meetings in Seattle signaled not only worldwide concern about the effects of globalization, but also the emergence of a well-organized and increasingly sophisticated network of internationalist media campaigners based both in and outside the media world. While the Internet plays a significant role in linking far-flung participants and disseminating information, these grassroots activists are not reliant on computer connections. They’re using a variety of old and new media–face-to-face communications, leafletting, and street art, along with radio, video, and websites–to organize with social justice movements at every level. Continue reading INTERNATIONAL MEDIA CAMPAIGNS WIN VICTORIES, by Dorothy Kidd→
The accomplishments, crises, and controversies that make up Media Alliance’s 25-year history are reflected in its eight very different executive directors. I thought it would be a fitting part of MA’s silver jubilee celebration to tap into their memories. Continue reading 25 YEARS: MA EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS COVER THE DECADES. by Rich Yurman.→
