Urgent Online Petition - Letter from MoveOn.org
Support Media Diversity / Prevent Media Concentration
The Senate will likely vote in the next week on rolling back the FCC rule change. This is the Big One. Sign our petition to Congress now:
Please forward this message -- we're hoping to get 100,000 signers for a press conference this Wednesday.
Dear MoveOn member,
You've been a critical part of the movement to stop the FCC rule change and media monopoly. This week or next, the Senate will vote on whether to roll back the rule change. It could be very close. This vote is the Big One -- the last major vote in the Senate on this issue -- and we need your help now. Please tell the Senate to put the FCC rule change to bed at:
http://www.moveon.org/stopthefcc/
Then help us reach 100,000 signers by Wednesday by passing this message on to your friends and colleagues and encouraging them to sign as well. On Wednesday, MoveOn.org will be holding a crucial press conference with Senator Dorgan (D-ND) and Senator Snowe (R-ME) and groups across the political spectrum to highlight the broad opposition to the FCC rule change. If we can get 100,000 signers, we'll demonstrate beyond a shadow of a doubt the breadth of support for the roll-back. It could mean the difference between success and defeat.
Last spring, MoveOn members joined with members of groups from Common Cause and NOW to the NRA to voice our opposition to an FCC rule change that would alter the dynamics of the American news media. The rule change proposed to tear down old boundaries that controlled how much of the media in a given community (and in the entire country) could be owned by one company.
After over 2 million Americans wrote the FCC to oppose the change, the FCC chairman, Michael Powell, pushed through the rule change anyway, in a 3-2 party line vote. But Congress was watching, and when we asked Congress to roll back the rule change, Senators and Representatives on both sides of the aisle were listening.
In July, the House struck down one piece of the rule change by a 400-to-21 vote. It was a big win, and media companies were shocked. As big contributors to both political parties, media conglomerates had assumed that their bottom line would be Congress' first priority. "Never before have I seen an FCC chairman's decision repudiated by the House of Representatives so quickly and so emphatically," said Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-MA).
So, in August, the media companies fought back. They launched a multi-million dollar lobbying campaign, using distorted polls and misleading advertising to twist the arms of members of the Senate.
Now, in the next week, the final vote on rolling back the FCC rule change will come to the Senate floor. We can beat this thing, but we'll need every last person to do so. Please sign the "Stop the FCC" petition right now, and ask your friends and family to sign as well.
You can sign now at:
http://www.moveon.org/stopthefcc/
Together, we can make sure that America's media is diverse, competitive, and balanced.
Sincerely,
--Carrie, Eli, Joan, Noah, Peter, Wes, and Zack
The MoveOn Team
September 8th, 2003
12:37:09 PM 
|
[
