Sender: •••@••.••• (El Tiburon) Found this on Usenet and thought everyone who hasn't should read this. I don't know how you all feel about conspiracy or completely unAmerican activity like this, but I am stunned to realize the lengths the media-elite will do ensure their interests. Now if nothing else says that the things we see and allowed to see are controlled by those who attempt to side with the govt who provides it with opportunity in its own self-interest, this does. What we see is tightly controlled and this is a great example of it. This scares the hell out of me. How can anyone sit back and allow this travesty to continue is beyond my comprehension. 10/20/95: An Ironic Reason Why You Should Oppose the Telecom Bill CNN BLACKS OUT ADS AGAINST TELECOM REFORM (USA Today) CNN REJECTS ADVOCACY ADS ON CABLE BILL (Wall Street Journal) Also from: Associated Press, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post Turner Broadcasting System's CNN has refused to run advertisements which state that cable and phone rates will go up under the proposed telecommunications bill (H.R. 1555, S. 652) now pending in Congress. "The company has an interest in the bill" stated CNN spokesman Steve Haworth to USA Today. Turner, as well as major stockholders Time-Warner and TCI, have been major supporters of the telecommunications bill, which would deregulate the cable industry and allow greater concentration of ownership of media properties. The rejected ads state that phone and cable rates will go up by billions of dollars, as estimated by the Consumer Federation of America. Public interest advocates like the Center for Media Education, Media Access Project, Consumers Union and the Consumer Federation of America oppose the bill precisely because it encourages this consolidation of the media industry, which lessens the diversity of viewpoints in our national debate, deters the free flow of information, and allows those (increasingly fewer) people who control the media companies to stifle a free flow of information. CNN stated they adopted a policy of not running any ads on the telecommunications bill "in the last 48 hours." Consumer advocates and the long distance industry, who sponsored the ads, were surprised to find the ads rejected, since CNN ran ads in their own interest against a 1992 law that regulated the industry. CNN also ran ads by the long-distance companies earlier this year against the telecommunications bill, but those ads did not mention cable rates. -- If you need more information about why you should oppose this bill (and how you can help stop this anti-consumer, anti-competition, anti-democratic, anti-Internet bill), check out the ad hoc Web site against the bill at: http://www.access.digex.net/~cme/bill.html or send a message with the word "alert" in the subject line to: •••@••.••• ~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~-~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~ Posted by Andrew Oram - •••@••.••• - Moderator: CYBER-RIGHTS (CPSR) You are encouraged to forward and cross-post messages for non-commercial use, pursuant to any redistribution restrictions included in individual messages. ~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~-~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~
