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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (June 5, 2003)
WHO OWNS YOUR LOCAL NEWS MEDIA? With the June 2 decision by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to roll back restrictions on consolidation of media ownership, an information resource recently made available to the public becomes not only timely but invaluable. The Center for Public Integrity, a nonpar- tisan, nonprofit government and media watchdog group, has created a searchable database where anyone can easily locate which companies own which radio and TV stations anywhere in the country. You simply type in the city and state, or zip code, and the database returns a list of all electronic media channels and their owners in that area. In the southern Willamette Valley, nine of the 40 radio stations, or 22 percent of the market, are owned by Texas-based Clear Channel, the largest radio station owner in the country. Six stations, or 15 percent of the market, are owned by Atlanta’s Cumulus Media, second-largest in the nation. Currently the area’s main network TV sta- tions are owned by three different companies. KMTR belongs to Clear Channel, KVAL is run by Seattle-based Fisher Communi- cations, and KZEL is owned by Eugene- based Chambers Communications. Media and business analysts predict a rush of buyouts and mergers after the FCC decision, as the giant companies take advan- tage of the regulatory reductions. With little sign of self-criticism by media owners, the CPI web site may be the only reasonably ac- • Imagine yourself an editor of The Register-Guard. You’re receiving hundreds of letters for and against the war in Iraq. How do you decide which ones to run? That’s the question answered by the Columbia Journalism Review, May- June issue, in the “Currents” col- umn. They polled 10 papers across the country during the weeks of March 11, 24, and April 7, to find out the slant of letters received. R- G reported letters running 4-1 against the war the week of March 11, 4-1 against the war week of March 24, and 7-1 against the war the week of April 7. R-G editors told CJR that they gave equal pre- sentation of the letters for and against the war despite the imbal- ance of what was submitted. Why? Some papers, such as EW, tried to publish letters to reflect what 12 JUNE 5, 2003 cessible source for determining precisely who owns what information channels. For more on this widely controversial decision, and links to the media ownership database, go to www.publicintegrity.org Bookmark the page and check it again in six months. — Steve McQuiddy GOAL 5 INVENTORY GOES TO HEARINGS Public hearings are under way on the state-mandated Goal 5 Natural Resource Inventory for the Eugene/Springfield area and the proposed Metro Plan “Environmental Resources Element” amendments (see “Natural Resistance,” Page 9). A Eugene City Council worksession was held May 28, a joint public hearing of city and county planning commissions happened June 3, and a Eugene City Council public hearing is planned for 7:30 pm Monday, June 9, at the Council Chambers, 777 Pearl Street. “There is absolutely no other local plan- ning project that has experienced so much abuse at the hands of certain elected officials and certain special interest groups,” says Lauri Segel, Lane County Planning Advocate for 1000 Friends of Oregon. “The ‘on the ground’ impact of the ongoing abuses against legal mechanisms to protect natural resources has resulted in a loss of possibly thousands of acres of rich and ecologically vital resources within the Metropolitan area.” Segel says local jurisdictions have re- ceived “substantial funding from the state” to carry out the inventory over the past eight came in and that seems fairer. It’s pure conjecture, but perhaps the R-G adopted this policy to provide “balance” on their editorial page to their strong editorials against the war. We did applaud those edi- torials, but we do wonder about the letters policy in our local main- stream paper. • “No Child Left Behind Act” sounds like a wonderful govern- ment initiative — until we discover it means little in terms of educat- ing children or raising them out of poverty. One thing it does mean is that no child will be left behind when it comes to harassing recruitment by the U.S. armed forces. Don’t want your teenager called and cajoled at home by gung-ho hawks selling the glory of war? Too bad. If you’re not paying attention and don’t get your paperwork in to the school district, it’s gonna happen. Pissed-off par- years and “only step one of a six-step process has ever seen the light of day.” For more information, contact 1000 Friends at 431-7059 or lauri@friends.org SWAT MENTALITY EXAMINED IN FILM Whiteaker neighbors are organizing a “Safety not SWAT” event including the film Urban Warrior: The Militarizing of American Law Enforcement. The free event will begin at 7 pm Saturday, June 7, at the 4J Education Center Auditorium, 200 N. Monroe. The documentary film screening will be followed by panel presentation with direc- tor/producer Matt Ehling, Lauren Regan (at- torney for the lawsuit concerning the October SWAT raid in Whiteaker), Seattle researcher Paul Richmond, and organizers challenging the militarization of the Eugene Police Department (EPD). During the 1980s and ‘90s, the Pentagon began supplying both mili- tary training and surplus military hardware to do- ents tell us they are having a hard time getting the 4J School Board to take a pro-active stand on this important privacy issue. What can be done? We hear some California school districts have adopted “opt- in” policies where student informa- tion is only given out when par- ents agree in advance. Other dis- tricts have assertive programs to educate both parents and students about military recruiting. The 4J School Board meets again at 6:45 pm Wednesday, June 11, with time allotted for public comments. • Politics was fun again last week- end when Cheyney Ryan hosted a public staged reading of his new play Shock and Awe at Tsunami Books. Audiences of more than 100 sat and stood each night around the back stage of the fine independent bookstore on South Willamette to see the “work in progress” as Cheyney called it. It mestic law enforcement agencies. Paramilitary SWAT teams, utilizing urban combat tactics, sub-machine guns, and ar- mored personnel carriers, now exist in 90 percent of American cities with a population of 50,000 or more, according to the film. In addition to providing weaponry and support, the military has also become involved in do- mestic law enforcement in an operational ca- pacity — blurring the line between civilian and military authority, and fostering a “mili- tary mentality” in city police departments. “This event is an opportunity to educate ourselves about SWAT from a different per- spective than that of EPD, which is also in the process of ‘educating’ the Police Commission and community about SWAT,” says Majeska Seese-Green of the Whiteaker Community Council. Seese-Green says the first weeks of June are crit- ical in demonstrating to the new city manager the “widespread concerns in Eugene about the excessive SWAT mentality in EPD, as he prepares to begin the recruitment process for a new po- lice chief.” In mid-June the EPD will announce the results of a May performance audit of their probably wasn’t fun for any fans of Georgie Bush who wandered in off the street, but that was the point. Ryan, who teaches philosophy at UO, is writing the play as a “cultur- al response” to what’s going on in this country, as a way to bring laughter and humor into the politi- cal darkness, as the conveyor of truth that theater should be, and, of course, as entertainment for the audience. Hans Christofferson directs the characters who were classmates of Bush when he was a cheerleader at Yale. They gather at the Watergate apartments a year after 9/11 The play starts as comedy, but doesn’t end that way. What happens next to Shock and Awe? We hope to see the finished product soon in Eugene and then launch it across the country. How about Eugene as a starting point for original political theater in this new century? An exciting idea, and that’s what Cheyney has in mind. • PeaceHealth’s hospital plans have been appealed by both CHOICES and the Jaqua family and it appears Lane County is intervening on behalf of the Jaquas. We hear 1000 Friends of Oregon is also joining in support- ing both appeals. Oddly enough, DLCD, the state agency that was so strongly opposed to the project earlier on, has bowed out citing budget and people-power issues. But we suspect DLCD’s on-the- record criticisms of the project will carry a lot of weight in the argu- ments. Meanwhile, PeaceHealth has agreed to pick up the tab on Springfield’s side of the appeals. But we all know who pays eventu- ally. SLANT includes short opinion pieces and rumor-chasing notes compiled by the EW staff. Heard any good rumors lately? Contact Ted Taylor at 484-0519, editor@eugeneweekly.com
