Media

Talking back to corporate monopolists

by Dan Kennedy

With corporate monopolies such as Time Warner/CNN, Viacom/CBS, Disney/ABC, and General Electric/NBC dominating the media landscape, it's easy to get discouraged about the possibility of grassroots voices' being heard. But local activists are fighting back. Citizens' Media Corps (CMC), which grew out of the ashes of Radio Free Allston, will hold its annual meeting this evening.

On the agenda: pushing the FCC to approve licenses for low-power community-radio stations such as Radio Free Allston, forced off the air in 1997; educating the public about the giveaway of digital broadcast frequencies to for-profit corporations; and advancing plans for an Alternative Media Network (AMNET) to help progressive activists work together and get the word out about their organizations.

"Right-wing think tanks have long recognized the importance of synergy and repetition in getting a message out," writes Steve Provizer, the force behind both Radio Free Allston and CMC. "The American Enterprise Institute has said that a message must be seen, heard, or read a total of six times every day in order to imprint itself on the public. Community media may never have the firepower of mainstream media, but why cede the concept of `synergy' to Disney and Fox?"

The annual meeting of Citizens' Media Corps will be held this evening, Thursday, October 14, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. in Rooms 1 and 2 of St. Margaret's Center, part of St. Elizabeth's Hospital, located at 736 Cambridge Street, in Brighton. For more information, contact Steve Provizer at (617) 232-3174, or see CMC's Web site at http://www.citizensmedia.org.