Category Archives: Press Room

Recent press releases issued by Media Alliance. Sometimes we’ll post newspaper, radio and broadcast interviews here as well.

Media Ownership, Press Room

IBT: Ajit Pai: FCC Voting To Remove Media Ownership Rules

November 1, 2017 Midnightschildren

BY AJ DELLINGER (originally printed in the International Business Times

The United States Federal Communications Commission will vote to roll back media ownership regulations that prohibit organizations from owning a television station and newspaper in the same market and will make it easier to acquire media outlets.

The announcement of the vote was made by Chairman Ajit Pai while he and the other four commissioners were testifying at an oversight hearing before a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on Communications and Technology. Continue reading IBT: Ajit Pai: FCC Voting To Remove Media Ownership Rules →

Internet Freedom, Press Room

OTI Publishes Model State Legislation to Help States Protect Broadband Privacy

October 30, 2017 Midnightschildren

Today, New America’s Open Technology Institute (OTI), with the support of 12 consumer advocacy and privacy organizations listed below, published model legislation to aid state legislatures in improving privacy protections for broadband customers. Continue reading OTI Publishes Model State Legislation to Help States Protect Broadband Privacy →

Media Ownership, Press Room

Radio Group Alleges FCC Main Studio Vote Threatens Public Safety

October 23, 2017 Midnightschildren

Common Frequency, which performs engineering and regulatory assistance for educational radio stations across the Western US, says the pending decision to eliminate the main studio rule is an “egregious” oversight that disregards that only 16% of Puerto Rico’s 3.34 million residents have regained electricity, more than three weeks after Hurricane Maria ripped through the island.

Continue reading Radio Group Alleges FCC Main Studio Vote Threatens Public Safety →

Press Room

Who Will Pay For KCSM In The End?

October 12, 2017 Midnightschildren 1 Comment

originally printed in the AFT Advocate

By Tracy Rosenberg, Executive Director of Media Alliance

(The Media Alliance, at media-alliance.org, is a Bay Area democratic communications advocate. Tracy fought a lonely war to save KCSM-TV between 2011 and 2013.)

When we last left off the story of KCSM-TV (see article in May 2017 Advocate), the 53-year-old public television station’s fate had become the subject of dueling lawsuits between the San Mateo Community College District, its owner and holder of the broadcasting license, and Locuspoint Networks LLC, a subsidiary of the Blackstone Group, the largest hedge firm in the world.

Board made deal with investment firm to sell KCSM’s spectrum to wireless companies Continue reading Who Will Pay For KCSM In The End? →

Accountability and Representation, Press Room, Surveillance

Sanctuary Journalism: ICE’s Data Broker Thomson Reuters

October 3, 2017 Midnightschildren

Originally published at Huffington Post

by Tracy Rosenberg

U.S. media outlets have done a fairly good job outlining the injustices and cruelties of the broken immigration system and the rogue federal agency that enforces it: ICE. Abuses ranging from the blatantly illegal to the simply inhumane have been highlighted including the detention and attempted deportation of US citizens, removing brain tumor patients from the hospital, paying Motel 6 hotel desk clerks to turn in hotel guests, arresting parents while their infant children are undergoing emergency surgery, chasing domestic violence victims into court houses and trying to destroy records of in-custody deaths and rapes at detention centers.

Continue reading Sanctuary Journalism: ICE’s Data Broker Thomson Reuters →

Press Room

Will New York’s Cable Strike Revitalize The Labor Movement — Or Kill It?

September 26, 2017 Midnightschildren

Originally printed in Salon.

By Robert Hennelly

An ongoing strike by 1,800 members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 3 in New York, against the cable giant Charter/Spectrum, could well determine whether the American labor movement has a fighting chance for a revival. The strike has gone on for almost six months, and many of the union families face foreclosure or eviction. For decades, these workers worked with the company’s corporate predecessors, made a living wage, had decent benefits, sent kids to college and made profits for their employer.

Continue reading Will New York’s Cable Strike Revitalize The Labor Movement — Or Kill It? →

Press Room

What Exactly is Urban Shield Preparing Law Enforcement For?

September 20, 2017 Midnightschildren

Originally published at ktvu.com

By Andre Torres

ALAMEDA COUNTY, Calif. (KTVU) – Tracy Rosenberg jumped up and down holding her protest sign outside the Alameda County Fairgrounds gate in Pleasanton last year. “I was not arrested,” she said.

Rosenberg, executive director at communications advocacy group, Media Alliance, admits to protesting the annual “Urban Shield” law enforcement disaster training event in 2016. This year was her first time actually attending the expo, although she had previously read several accounts from journalists who had documented Urban Shield.

Continue reading What Exactly is Urban Shield Preparing Law Enforcement For? →