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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.

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Your vote:

Average: 5 (6 votes)

You Know They're Lying When They Say . . .

The next time your mayor (like Jim Erbs), or your governor (like Chester Culver), or anyone in your community (like Charles City, Iowa), says they're not technically savvy, and have to rely on their computer experts to brief them on whether they will be doing the right thing about bringing community broadband infrastructure to their citizens, try to be a little respectful (like I am) and not guffaw in their faces. These officials are under the impression that they're clued in, and the Public (that's you and me) are just plain stupid. Now, I guess it's all right if you go ahead and guffaw in their faces.
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Your vote:

Average: 4.2 (5 votes)

It is my belief that the role of the advocate, the people who believe in things, do things and passionately stand for things, is not structurally protected in this system. The consequences of this is the death of democracy itself and all you need to do is look at the project censored - 25 most censored stories of the year to see this is happening right now. This is a bigger problem than just media consolidation.

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Your vote:

Average: 4.3 (6 votes)

Common Cause is pleased to announce that we will be holding a media reform summit on March 29th in Los Angeles at Caltech.

http://www.commoncause.org/mediasummit

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Your vote:

Average: 5 (3 votes)

Why is the 2008 Presidential race suddenly about gender and ethnicity? It’s no surprise that people base their impressions of others on familiarity and subconscious comfort levels. But when does the media focus change start affecting the news instead of reporting it? What will it take to get the media & the public to intellectually assess candidates instead of falling back on emotional responses? More importantly, will the media focus on Clinton’s gender and Obama’s race continue to obliterate the last of the “other” Democratic Primary candidates, John Edwards?
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Your vote:

Average: 4.6 (5 votes)

I don't understand why PEG (public, educational and government) access is not listed as one of the "PROJECTS AND ACTIONS".  HELLO??? Is this not a key media reform issue?  It is not even listed as a tag.  I wonder how much the cable industry has donated to Free Press?  It's the only reason I can think of that you would so blatently leave out this important issue.

Your vote:

Average: 2.5 (2 votes)

Two important New York City Community Media stories were in the news this week.

NYC to Hold Cable Franchise Renewal Hearings

New York City will be negotiating nine new cable franchise contracts this year, which will affect every subscriber in the city. The contracts run for 10 years, so it’s important to get a lot of input and write a good agreement.
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Your vote:

Average: 3.4 (7 votes)

In the dimming days of 2007, we bared the Telcos' ugly side for all to see. Powerful communications companies including AT&T, Verizon and Comcast brought us a year of privacy invasions, threats to free speech and the deceptive blocking of Internet applications and access.

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Your vote:

Average: 4.8 (8 votes)

On Friday December 7th from 5:00 to 6:30PM, about a dozen media activists braved freezing temperatures, a blockade of violence-prone Chicago police, and thousands of mostly indifferent holiday shoppers, to take part in the 2007 Chicago Media Action Holiday Singalong. It was held outside of Tribune Tower, the national corporate headquarters of the Tribune Company. The media giant's TV station and newspapercross-ownerships have come under an increasing level of scrutiny by the public and Congress due to FCC actions concerning the pending sale of the Tribune Company to billionaire Sam Zell.
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Your vote:

Average: 3.4 (8 votes)

Net neutrality is everyone's business but most people don't realize something until it is gone!

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Your vote:

Average: 3.7 (9 votes)