The national media reform organization Free Press has issued a new action alert demanding that Congress to take action against what they call a "domestic covert propaganda campaign:"

"Yesterday, the New York Times exposed a secret Pentagon campaign to infiltrate the media with pro-war propaganda.

The scheme reaches all the way to the Bush White House, where top officials recruited dozens of "military analysts" to spread favorable views of the war via every major news channel -- without revealing they were working from Pentagon scripts and often lobbying for major military contractors.

Spreading "covert propaganda" is illegal under federal law. Congress must investigate these military pundits and their ties to the Bush administration, defense contractors and our national news media.

If we can get 50,000 people to join this call to Congress, they will likely take action to stop government propaganda.

The more than 75 analysts exposed by the New York Times have become fixtures of war coverage on CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN, Fox News Channel and MSNBC. The front-page article reveals the many ways that the Pentagon fed them pro-war talking points and misinformation. The White House even has a name for these covert propagandists - message force multipliers.

The pundits trade on their access to the media and the White House to secure high-paying jobs as lobbyists, consultants and contractors -- vying for hundreds of billions of dollars in military business generated by the war.

An administration secretly forcing favorable views via the press is not a partisan issue. This is a violation of every conceivable standard of journalism -- and possibly of federal law."

Free Press is asking that people send an email to their Congressional Representative demanding action.

Free Press has also produced a video providing background information on the issue:

In 2005, the Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy (GRIID) organized a campaign to educate people about the License Renewal process that radio and TV station must go through every eight years in order to use the public airwaves. We told you how stations only have to pay $75 to renew their license with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and how limited their obligations are to the public. Now the local TV stations are fighting new FCC requirements.

According to a new media alert from the group Stop Big Media, the FCC has voted to make TV stations more accountable to their viewers by disclosing basic information about the ways they serve the public.

The new rules will help you monitor the media and make your voice heard. They require stations to form community advisory boards and have someone in the studio at all times for public safety alerts.

In addition, stations would have to post information on station ownership, educational and community programming, and public complaints on their Web sites. This information helps communities' pressure stations to improve their programming -- and even challenge their licenses at the FCC if they're not meeting local needs.

Big Media's lawyers and lobbyists are fighting rules like these. They are telling the FCC that no one cares about how their stations do business.

Prove the lobbyists wrong: tell the FCC you care about local media by participating in this campaign. Click here to send a message to the FCC.

A few days ago Sen. Byron Dorgan introduced a bill (SJ Res. 28) in the Senate that would overturn the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) disastrous December vote to gut media ownership rules. But there is a catch. The bill will expire unless it is passed in 60 legislative days.

The national media reform group Free Press is asking people to send e-mails to their Senators to tell them that media consolidation is bad for local communities, that it limits opinions and perspectives, and that it is anti-democratic. The activist branch of Free Press, StopBigMedia.com also has this to say about how the public stopped the media giveaway in 2003:

"In 2003, when the FCC tried to do away with all media ownership rules, nearly 3 million people took action, writing their members of Congress, telling their friends and organizing their communities to speak out on this important issue. With that kind of momentum, lawmakers had no choice but to listen. The Senate voted to overturn the FCC decision, before the courts tossed them out altogether."

"The situation isn't going to repair itself," proclaimed Commissioner Copps on the day of the FCC vote last December. "Big media is not going to repair it. This Commission is not going to repair it. But the people, their elected representatives, and attentive courts can repair it. Last time the Commission went down this road, the majority heard and felt the outrage of millions of citizens and Congress and then the court. ... Last time a lot of insiders were surprised by the country's reaction. This time they should be forewarned."

Send an Email to your Senators

On Saturday, March 1 the Grand Rapids Press ran a front-page story entitled "Is NAFTA not so bad for us?" This story is very typical of how this issue has been reported on for years. The main issue in the article whether or not the North American Free Trade Agreement has been "good" or "bad," not who has benefited and who has suffered.

The article cites four people who think NAFTA has been a good policy and only one that thinks it has been bad. Of the four pro-NAFTA sources, two are with area corporations, one with the US Department of Commerce, and one is with the Michigan District Export Council West. One of these sources claims, "Conditions for some Mexican workers and their plants' environment are improving because socially conscious corporations are demanding it." This claim is never verified by the reporter, nor are any other claims made by sources in the story. The only anti-NAFTA perspective is a local UAW union representative, but her comments are clouded because she says that the UAW endorsed the Peru Trade Agreement.

The story is oversimplified since it only explores job creation and job loss. There is no discussion about environmental issues, immigration or quality of life issues. Lastly, there are no real independent perspectives presented nor reference to the tremendous amount of research that has documented the impact that NAFTA has had on the US, Mexico, and Canada for thirteen years.

We urge you to write to the Grand Rapids Press and demand better coverage on such a crucial issue.

TAKE ACTION:

Send a letter to News Editor Andy Angelo:

Pre-Written Email Action

READ THE ORIGINAL ARTICLE:

http://www.mediamouse.org/griid/dissecting/2008/03/01/is-nafta-not-so-bad-for-us/

MORE ON NAFTA:

http://www.citizen.org/trade/nafta/

ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF HOW THE LOCAL MEDIA HAS PRAISED NAFTA:

http://www.mediamouse.org/features/031704local.php

The Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy (GRIID) has just completed a 4-week investigation into the Grand Rapids Press coverage of Iraq and Iran. In both cases the primary sources cited were those of the US administration or US military personnel. The human cost of the war, both in terms of Iraqi civilians and US soldiers received minimal coverage, and the perspectives of anti-war activists and organizations were non-existent. The content analysis of the study shows that the stories that ran in the Grand Rapids Press tended to reflect the perspective of the US administration and take the position that US policy towards Iraq and Iran were promoting democracy.

Send a letter to the Grand Rapids Press demanding better coverage of these major foreign policy issues:

http://citizenspeak.org/node/1202

Read the study:

http://www.mediamouse.org/griid/pdfs/reports/010208-gr_press_iraq_iran.pdf

The Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy (GRIID) and Media Mouse endorse the Free Press campaign to pressure Congress to support making our media system more democratic.

Please take the time to sign the online petition to prevent fewer companies from owning more of the media:

http://action.freepress.net/campaign/ownership

For more information on this topic, consult the following two Media Mouse articles:

http://www.mediamouse.org/features/121107take_.php

http://www.mediamouse.org/features/112807fcc_t.php

As always, for more independent media and analysis, visit http://www.mediamouse.org

On November 12, WOOD TV 8 ran a story on a local man who has been trying to join the military but has been unable to because of his criminal record. In light of recruiting shortages, the military has been relaxing its rules to allow people to enlist if they have a criminal record. Despite this, the local man in the story has been unable to join the military because of a domestic violence arrest against his girlfriend. The story only spoke with the man and two military representatives and failed to get an alternative perspective on the issue. Such a story could have placed the issue of domestic violence into the larger context of sexual assault in the military.

Send a Letter Telling WOOD TV you are Disappointed with the Story

View the Story (includes video and transcript)

Kevin Martin, Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, has been keeping a secret from the American people. He wants to push through plans to remove decades-old media ownership protections. And he's trying to do it without public scrutiny. If Martin is successful fewer companies will own more of the media and that would be disasterous for democracy.

Send an e-mail to Congress urging them to convene oversight hearings immediately:

http://action.freepress.net/campaign/fcc_oversight/

On Friday, July 6 the Grand Rapids Press ran a short article about a demonstration organized by the Iraq Summer campaign. The article has only one quote from the organizers of the effort to challenge Rep. Ehlers' position on the US Occupation of Iraq, with no details on why the group is opposed to the current policy. The article quotes Congressman Ehlers three times, but never verifies his claims about US policy in Iraq, allowing him to make statements with no accountability.

Please send the Grand Rapids Press an email using the pre-written letter below demanding that in the future they hold politicians accountable for their statements by examining their accuracy:

Send an Email to the Grand Rapids Press

On Saturday, May 5, WXMI ran a story on a "town hall meeting" hosted by US Representative Vern Ehlers. The story simply repeated one of Ehlers' statements without bothering to verify its accuracy. The statement, that more people died in Iraq under Saddam Hussein than in the ongoing war and occupation, was questionable at best and should have been examined.

Please send WXMI an email using the pre-written letter below demanding that in the future they hold politicians accountable for their statements by examining their accuracy:

Send a Pre-Written Email