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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 12, 2004)
Anti-conglomeration activist hosts workshop on campus Paul Cienfuegos discussed corporate control over local mass media throughout his two-day presentation By Moriah Balingit Freelance Reporter Nearly 40 people packed into 44 Co lumbia Hall on Saturday for Paul Cien fuegos' workshop "Taking OUR Local Mass Media Back From Large Corpora tions: We The People Are More Power ful Than We Dare To Believe!" Cienfuegos' speech on Friday night had an even larger turnout. The workshop, which included two speeches, was designed to facili tate discussion on how Eugene citi zens might work to decrease corpo rate control over local mass media. Cienfuegos pointed out that media conglomerates Cumulus Media and Clear Channel currently own 37 per cent of radio stations in Eugene. Cienfuegos also said he wants to educate people about "corporate per sonhood," which declares corpora tions legal persons and gives them property rights, free speech rights and other rights normally guaranteed to ordinary citizens. He described the re sulting phenomena as "super person hood," in which corporations exercise huge amounts of power without pub lic accountability. "We're not going to beg corpora tions for change; we're going to ad dress corporations as subordinate entities," activist and workshop organizer Jill Schwab said. Schwab, currently a campaign fi nance reform activist, organized the workshop with the hopes of creating awareness about corporate person hood and starting a campaign against corporate domination of the mass media in Eugene. She reiterat ed Cienfuegos' point that this is not a left-right political issue but rather a "fundamental issue about Ameri can democracy." "We're not going to beg corporations for change; we re going to address corporations as subordinate entities." Jill Schwab Activist and workshop organizer Krista Rojas, who is active in the local branch of the Green Party, at tended the workshop because she is concerned by corporate control of information. "The corporations now control so much of the information, not only that comes to us over the media, but also to us at the University level... I think (the workshop) gave us some hope and some tools to organize," she said. Cienfuegos is experienced in bat tling corporate power. In 1998, his group, Citizens Concerned About Corporations, developed Measure F, which designated two town hall meetings co-sponsored by the Areata City Council to discuss the question: "Can we have democracy when large corporations wield so much power and wealth under law?" The second provision of the meas ure provided for the creation of a committee to advise the city council about issues of corporate control. The measure drew a considerable amount of attention, receiving en dorsements from linguist and au thor Noam Chomsky and famed populist and author Jim Hightower, who said, "The shot heard 'round the world in this case was a ballot, not a bullet." The measure passed, and the meetings drew up to 5 percent of the voting population. The Committee on Corporations and Democracy, created by Measure F, proposed leg islation to cap the number of "for mula restaurants" in Areata. The leg islation passed, barring any more chain restaurants from establishing themselves in Areata. Cienfuegos said he is hopeful that his workshops will inspire similar change in Eugene and elsewhere. "My ultimate goal is to have citi zens rise up in a democratic fashion across the United States and insist that local branches of these giant media corporations either shape up or we shut them down and replace them with fully accountable media institutions," he said. Moriah Balingit is a freelance reporter for the Emerald. HRFfiON Mil Y FMFBAI 11 yom- independent student newspaper 521 Market St, Eugeni triangle!*/ Si hr i^B rains .com TR1ZJNGLE REEN PRINTING EMBROIDERY GO " DUCKS! 2004 Emerald City Bridal Show January 17th® 18th Lane Events Center, ENTER Honeymoon package to TO WIN! the Bahamas or Jamaica sponsored by: She legist rr-<5uarft Springfield .New* Admission: $7.00 Over 100 local companies to assist you with all your wedding needs. SHOW HOURS FASHION SHOW TIMES SATURDAY 10:00 AM-5 00 PM 11:00 AM & 2:30 PM SUNDAY 11:00 AM-500PM 12:30 PM & 3 00 PM www.oregonweddingshows.com Practice Respiratory Etiquette Cover y°ur Cough ■S Put used tissue in the waste basket. Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when you cough or sneeze or cough or sneeze into your elbow, not your hands. Wash with soap and water. clean with alcohol-based hand cleaner. You may be asked to put on a surgical mask to protect others. I Clean your Hands after oougblng or sneezing 017944 Stop the spread of germs that make you and others sick! Health Center Open Daily 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. except Tuesdays 9 a.m. and weekends 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Appointments and after hours nurse: 346-2770 Web: http://healthcenter. uoregon. edu O UNIVERSITY OF OREGON J
