Category Archives: Press Room

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

Press Room, Surveillance

Talking About Spying With Nancy Pelosi

 

Posted by Tracy Rosenberg on August 19th, 2013
Huffington Post

Update 9/9/2013 – Here is a brief blog entry on the Stop Watching Us coalition meeting with Nancy Pelosi’s SF District office on August 26th.

Stop Watching Us also met with Representative Mike Thompson in the North Bay. Read an account of that visit by Anna Givens in the North Bay Bohemian newspaper.

**

Talking About Spying with Nancy Pelosi’s Office

When Edward Snowden’s revelations about the scope and extent of NSA surveillance activities started breaking on the pages of the U.K. Guardian, it was a wake-up call for Internet freedom activists that many of our worst suspicions had come true.

As the flow of stories continued, both in the pages of Guardian and now in many other media outlets including the Washington Post, Der Speigel, the NY Times and Pro Publica, the American public grew more and more convinced of government over-reach and an overly loose interpretation of the Bill of Rights. These perceptions crossed partisan dividing lines and reached 75% of the population. Half a million people signed a petition at http://www.stopwatching.us demanding an end to the programs. Continue reading Talking About Spying With Nancy Pelosi →

Media Ownership, Press Room

California’s 5th Largest Public TV Station May be Scrapped for Wireless Spectrum

 

San Mateo-At a Board of Trustees meeting on Wednesday November 14 2012,  the San Mateo Community College District, which operates 3 community colleges (Skyline College, Canada College and the College of San Mateo), discussed the fate of the noncommercial television license they have owned since 1964 – KCSM TV. KCSM’s signal reaches 10 Bay Area counties and is broadcast on 60 municipal cable systems throughout the Bay Area. Continue reading California’s 5th Largest Public TV Station May be Scrapped for Wireless Spectrum →

Press Room, Surveillance

86 Organizations Petition Congress To Counter Unconstitutional Surveillance

 

June 11, 2013

For Immediate Release

Contact: Tracy Rosenberg, Executive Director, Email: tracy@media-alliance.org, Cell (510) 684-6853

86 Organizations Petition Congress to Counter Unconstitutional Surveillance
Letter Demands Patriot Act Reform of Section 215, Congressional Hearings and Accountability

A letter signed by 86 public interest and civil liberties organizations was delivered to Congress this morning, in the wake of a week of explosive reports in the UK Guardian and the Washington Post from former Booz Allen NSA contractor Edward Snowden.

The reports detailed several government programs, including one that provides access to metadata for telephone calls and another that provides warrantless access to online activities culled from the servers of nine leading Internet companies, including Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, Apple and Facebook.  Continue reading 86 Organizations Petition Congress To Counter Unconstitutional Surveillance →

Accountability and Representation, Press Room

Medium Rare TV Questions Comic-Con Press Pass Policy

 

August 21, 2014

For Immediate Release

Contact: Tracy Rosenberg, Executive Director, Media Alliance (510) 684-6853 (c) or Email: tracy@media-alliance.org
Kevin Robinson, Executive Producer, Medium Rare TV (415) 576-1130 (c) or Email: kevin@mediumraretv.org

Medium Rare TV Questions Comic-Con Press Pass Policy

San Francisco-A film, television and gaming blogging site, Medium Rare TV, which highlights the achievements of people of color in the film, television and gaming industries, has written a letter of protest to Comic-Con International, the educational nonprofit which throws the annual Comic-Con International Trade Show in San Diego and the Alternative Press Expo in San Francisco.

Medium Rare TV is objecting to the refusal to issue a press pass to Medium Rare for the large San Diego Comic-Con exposition last month, a crucial forum for the industries MRTV covers. MRTV observed in their letter that despite their completed application being filed prior to the deadline, no reason for the rejection was provided, and that at least one outlet had applied after the deadline and not been rejected. They expressed concerns that diversity, both in race and demography, and in size and focus of the media outlets that were granted press passes, was inadequately considered. Continue reading Medium Rare TV Questions Comic-Con Press Pass Policy →

Media Ownership, Press Room

Radio World: LPFM Application Tally Surprises

 

Randy J. Stine   January 2 2015
WASHINGTON — The low-power expansion of the FM dial will not include as many stations as some LPFM faithful had estimated. The FCC said some 2,819 applications were filed in the LPFM window, which closed in November. Some LPFM supporters had predicted upwards of 10,000 applications. The typical cost for putting a LPFM on the air — cited as $15,000 to $20,000 by some observers — could have been a deterrent. Other observers believe self-filers may have been discouraged because they felt they lacked the technical expertise needed to file an LPFM application.

Continue reading Radio World: LPFM Application Tally Surprises →

Media Ownership, Press Room

Scandalous Privatizaton of Noncommercial TV Spectrum

 

by Ellen Goodman – Rutgers Institute for Information Policy and Law – May 28 2013

About 20% of the hugely valuable TV spectrum — slated for auction in 2014 — is reserved for noncommercial stations.   Only noncommercial stations (mostly owned by universities and community non-profits) can operate on this spectrum and when they sell, they must sell to other eligible noncommercial operators. Two years ago, Congress made the fateful decision to allow noncommercial stations to cash out of their spectrum when it goes up for auction to wireless providers.  That means that a university licensee can sell its spectrum and put the proceeds into a gym or a dorm.  Or, the licensee can enter into a deal with a commercial entity to split the proceeds in return for subsidizing its operations until that fateful auction day.   It’s like this:  a nonprofit is granted (at no cost) public land to operate as a park, and then allowed to sell the land on the commercial market, splitting the proceeds with a private equity firm.  The park is gone, and the public gets nothing other than more commercial real estate.

Continue reading Scandalous Privatizaton of Noncommercial TV Spectrum →