Bob Sheak
I am part of a media-reform group based in Athens, Meigs, and Belmont Counties called Athens Free Press. For us, media reform means increasing the range of options on important news and issues beyond the programming typically offered by the commercial media and what, with limited exceptions, we find on public radio and television.
For example, we want media that are independent of corporate funding. We want media that are willing to critically examine the policies of corporations that recklessly undermine the economy, dominate government with campaign contributions and lobbies, and advance their interests at the expense of the public and a sustainable environment. We want media that challenge government military adventures abroad. And we want media that give us an opportunity to hear from experts, activists from other countries as well as our own, and those from different walks of life who challenge the status quo. In the end, we hope for a media that will make us more informed and discerning citizens.
There is a profusion of alternative sources of in-depth analysis on the Internet, beyond the conventional media, but many residents of Southeast Ohio don’t have access to computers. They often do have a radio and/or television. With this in mind, our group has identified a program called Democracy Now that fits the bill. It is a daily, one-hour program, presently broadcast on nearly 800 community radio and public access TV stations, some PBS or NPR stations, as well as being beamed out over satellite television and accessible on its website, www.democracynow.org.
The program’s hosts, Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez, are award-winning journalists and have written best-selling books. One of their mottos is “going to where the silence is.” A vivid example of this was their coverage of the lead-up to the Iraq War, when they regularly found experts who were not convinced that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction or links to Al Qaeda. In recent months, among a plethora of featured stories, Democracy Now has had interviews with opponents of coal mining based on mountaintop removal, a roundtable on “no more nuclear war,” a debate on events in Honduras, interviews with GIs criticizing the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, an exclusive report and interviews on CIA infiltration of peace groups in the state of Washington, and a number of guests arguing for single-payer or strong public-option health care policies.
We are holding a fund-raiser for Democracy Now at the Case Nueva Cantina/Restaurant in Athens on Saturday, August 22, from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. The Bob Stewart Band will play, and be joined by special guest Zeke Hutchison. You can get additional information on Democracy Now at this event. The point is to support a flourishing alternative source of information and analysis, so that someday citizens in Southeast Ohio will have this option.
Monday, August 17, 2009
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Reminder: Amy Goodman to speak in Athens, air DN! from WOUB studio
The award winning, independent journalist and co-host of Democracy Now! will speak in Athens this Thursday, April 9, at 5 p.m. Amy Goodman will be one of two keynote speakers of the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism's inaugural Schuneman Symposium.Goodman's talk will be in Templeton-Blackburn Memorial Auditorium, and is free and open to the public. Goodman is scheduled to televise the Friday, April 10 edition of Democracy Now! from WOUB studios. The program can be viewed locally on democracynow.org or on Link TV on the DIRECTV satellite service (Channel 375), 11-noon, or on Channel 9410 on DISH® NETWORK.
Goodman appeared on WOUB airwaves last night as a guest on Bill Moyers Journal. Watch a replay of the program on the PBS web site.
Goodman has received dozens of awards for her work, including the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award, the George Polk Award, and most recently the Right Livelihood Award -- often referred to as the "Alternative Nobel Prize," and the Izzy Award, in honor of muckraking journalist I.F. Stone. Goodman is a role model for independent, critical and courageous journalism. She stands for the idea of socially responsible and ethically oriented media.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Letter of Offer to WOUB
[editor's note: the following letter was sent Feb. 15, 2009]
Hello Carolyn [Lewis], all of you WOUB Community Advisory Council [WOUB-CAC] members, and a few others with an interest in this matter,
I am sorry that this "forwarded email" to you is so lengthy, but I have much to share with you in the interest of enhancing the quality of our WOUB TV and Radio.
Thank you Carolyn for your reply to my December 28th email to you asking why you at WOUB have decided not to carry "Democracy Now" on WOUB. Thank you also for the copy of your letter to Bob Stewart dated July 27, 2007 -- in which you explain your rationale for denying "Democracy Now" a slot in WOUB's programming schedules. Your July 27th letter to Stewart also introduced me to him, and as a consequence, we have had a nice visit. Thank you for connecting us.
I am sorry that it has taken me so long to get back to you on this matter, Carolyn. Even though I am an emeritus professor, I somehow seem to find too much on my plate with not enough time in which to consume it in a timely manner. Thus my tardiness.
I recently spoke with one of the members of your WOUB -CAC, my friend and colleague, George Bain, about Ruth's and my December 22, 2008 $1,000 contribution offer to WOUB. George said that he had not seen our offer. I assume that perhaps because of the tight time constraints [2008 tax deductableness etc.] that my offer imposed on you -- you were not able to share it with your entire WOUB -CAC group. The offer is still open for the 2009 and 2010 calendar years, and now with no rush I take this opportunity to share Ruth's and my offer with you and the entire WOUB -CAC for your group's reconsideration of it. Furthermore, we might be interested in exploring with you-all the possibility of extending this offer or something related -- beyond the two years mentioned above and through to the ends of our lives -- and perhaps even beyond, via our three great daughters, Solveig, Kim and Heidi.
All three of our daughters are Phi Beta Kappa graduates of Ohio University [in the days before grade inflation] who earned post graduate degrees from -- Duke Law School, JD -- the University of Pennsylvania Medical School, MD -- and a Boston University graduate degree in counseling.
A SECOND TRY
Thus, Carolyn and you members of the WOUB -CAC, this email is a "second try" at getting WOUB to host some "Democracy Now" content as an expression of beautiful "diversity" on our local publicly owned "air waves" -- WOUB TV and Radio. Please see below for additional reflections on "diversity" in ideas and ideals -- my University of Wisconsin-Madison "Sifting and Winnowing" experience.
First let me say that Ruth and I find much with which to be happy about the materials presented on WOUB radio and TV -- and with the helpfulness of WOUB people when we need help. For example, the new digital format for our WOUB TV enables us to have much better reception. One of your people, Terry Douds, was thoughtfully very helpful to me in getting my "converter box" properly connected. In fact our connection with our roof-top antenna is so much better that we can now clearly receive the West Virginia PBS TV signal 33-1-2 and 3.
This is especially helpful to me in that the West Virginia PBS signal also carries the "captions" for those of us with hearing difficulties. I hope that you at WOUB can soon find a way to get those "captions" back on your TV digital signal. My hearing problem is related to my 83 years of being -- but also to my earlier years of military combat pilot service to this nation of ours [two wars WW-II and Korea] when I logged many hours of pilot time in noisy, 105 to 110 decibel, military flying machines.
Furthermore, now with digital TV upon us, we look forward to having WOUB revise its monthly "Centerpiece" brochure [print version] so as to provide all of its patrons with the new information as to what is available and when on which of the new channels for each day's 24 hours. I suspect that perhaps several of your patrons are insufficiently "Internet Wise" to ask them to seek this important information via the Internet.
Ruth and I appreciate and like much of the current content on WOUB TV such as -- The Masterpiece Classic series, Worldfocus, Bill Moyers Journal, the NOW program etc, and recent specific programs such as, "Judgment Day: Intelligent Design On Trial" and the "Assassination of Lincoln" etc. etc.-- and on WOUB Radio -- the BBC, Morning Edition, Talk of the Nation; Fresh Air, The Diane Rehm Show etc. etc.
I do, however, find it a bit sadly tedious to have to endure, each year these days, two or three months of your "TV fund-raising stuff" that turns PBS into something like that "vast wasteland of nothingness" [commercial radio and TV] as noted by that great 1960s FCC chairperson Newton N. Minow.
Of course I realize that you are not completely in control of these 'fund-raising" matters. It is "we the people" who have allowed our government to behave in ways that destroy "community" with its lust for so-called "free markets" "deregulation" and "privatization" of everything. In my opinion "community" is that which we humans must do collectively in order to enable a humane, just, creative, and dignified life for all of us as sisters and brothers on our beautiful Planet Earth. It is "we the people" who need to restore that beautiful "diversity" to PBS across its spectrum without having to lose months each year to "content diluting" fund raising and to grasping for "corporate advertisers."
"We the people" are smart enough to understand that when PBS's Lehrer evening News Show is sponsored by a huge oil conglomerate -- we will most likely not see anything on Lehrer's news that might seriously offend their interests. My forty years of professional engineering "Green Technology by Design" activity [including time in the US Congress Office of Technology Assessment on these matters] enables me to understand how important it is that "oil conglomerate" and US automobile company interests and their "public relations" [PR] -- be challenged from time to time.
REGARDING YOUR JULY 27 LETTER TO STEWART, CAROLYN --
In reading your July 27, 2007 letter to Bob Stewart explaining why you refuse to host some "Democracy Now" on WOUB TV and Radio -- I find that I disagree with most of your "practical and philosophical" arguments, Carolyn.
In addition to the content of my December 22, 2008 email to you Carolyn -- here with this "forwarded email" to your entire WOUB-CAC and to several others who have had some involvement in this matter -- I burden you all with one additional "attachment" -- the University of Wisconsin's "Sifting and Winnowing" idea and ideal. I do this to help you understand a bit more of my reasons and passion for seeking more beautiful "diversity" for WOUB-TV and Radio by having "Democracy Now" appear on "our air waves." I am a great believer in the importance of "diversity" in all its wonderful dimensions ranging from racial to intellectual. "Democracy Now" on WOUB's programming schedule will enhance viewers' ability to "sift and winnow" in their search for truth -- something absolutely essential in a democracy. By adding some "Democracy Now," WOUB will be -- "ever encouraging that continual and fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone the truth can be found.”
I look forward to a creative and positive response from you, Carolyn, and also from any of the rest of you who are receiving this email from me -- as you might see fit.
Peace,
Chuck Overby, Emeritus Engineering Professor
ORIGINAL LETTER OF OFFER FROM OVERBY [sent Dec. 22, 2008]
Hello Carolyn,
My wife and I would like to make a nice pledge in support of WOUB, AM and FM radio and TV -- before the end of December 2008. Because time is short for you to respond to my proposal [you may also not even be here at the moment] -- I send a copy of this proposal to Jeannie Jeffers, your Director of Development.
We would like to make a $500 tax deductible gift for the 2008 calendar year, and another of the same magnitude for the 2009 year, in December 2009. There is, however, a condition connected with this offer -- namely that you arrange to have the Amy Goodman "Democracy Now" programs [AM and FM radio and TV] available on a regular basis on WOUB, beginning as soon as possible in 2009.
Let me explain my rationale for this offer.
In my 83 years of being on Planet Earth, I have come to understand how very important it is in a democracy [one in which one might wish to live] -- for us as citizens of that democracy to be exposed to as wide a spectrum of views on the important matters that Impact our lives now and in the future. This is important so that we can do some "sifting and winnowing" from among this diversity of ideas and views -- and thus more rationally and intelligently come to our own unique understanding of matters and issues that impact our lives. It is only through such a "sifting and winnowing" process that we have any hope of approaching "truth."
Also in my 83 years that includes five years of active duty in two of America's wars [World War II and Korea (combat pilot in Korea)] -- I have come to the conclusion that, especially in these days of concentration of America's "private media" power in fewer and fewer hands -- it is most urgent that we use our wonderful "Public Radio and Television" gifts to enhance the "diversity" of information available to U.S. citizens -- and thus become a small blessed David in our battle with the Goliaths -- our poorly regulated "private media." Unless we do this, I fear that we will continue to lose that beautiful essence of democracy in America.
Let me now relate my broad concerns to a very specific personal experience that I recently had in the Minneapolis St. Paul area. This experience helped to motivate me to write this proposal to you at WOUB. I presented a paper at our Veterans for Peace [VFP] Annual Convention the end of August 2008 in Minneapolis. My paper dealt with one of my long term professional engineering themes and passions -- "Green Technology by Design As Means To Help Prevent Oil And Other Kinds of Resource Wars, And To Help Prevent Global Warming."
The Republican National Convention took place in St. Paul immediately following our VFP Convention. The evening of Friday, August 29th our VFP Convention was introduced to Ms. Amy Goodman who was in the Minneapolis-St Paul area with her independent media group "Democracy Now" -- to cover the Republican Convention.
Ms. Goodman and other "independent" television and media people tried to report on some "pre-emptive" police strikes and in general were accosted by droves of St. Paul and Minneapolis police, and perhaps also by some Federal governmental security persons -- who sought to drive them away from the public streets around the Republican National Convention. Aside from a small bit of local reporting on these matters, most of America was not allowed to know that these kinds of things were happening outside the Republican National Convention Hall. These events constitute a concrete and specific illustration of my above general commentary on the failure of the "private media" giants to inform the people of America on matters related to this political convention. These "private media" giants failed America in this instance -- and unfortunately so did PBS.
Ms. Goodman, an independent journalist and TV program producer, and other independent media people who were simply non-violently trying to video the activities outside the convention hall, were harassed. I believe that she and possibly some of the other independents were arrested -- believe it or not, for trying to share these matters with American citizens.
Because of a leg and back physical disability I was unable to join the multitudes of street demonstrators. Thus, I watched the convention on TV -- mostly the PBS Lehrer group's coverage -- but with some switching from time to time to the "private media" giants' channels. I was appalled at the coverage of the Convention -- including that by Lehrer's group. From what we were shown by the media, including PBS -- one would have thought that there were no protests what-so-ever connected with the 2008 Republican National Convention in St. Paul Minnesota. The American people were denied the opportunity to see what was actually happening -- thus limiting their ability to do their own "sifting and winnowing" in search for the truth and reality in St. Paul.
In all of this "controlled media" convention coverage there was one brief moment of excitement when a courageous PBS video camera person turned the PBS camera on a creative protester who somehow managed to sneak into the convention hall with some large poster signs that he briefly unfurled before burly men dragged him out of TV's eye. This protestor unfurled two banners -- one said, referring to the Iraq war, "You cannot win an invasion" -- and the other said "McCain votes against veterans." As a veteran of two of America's wars I know the truth of both of these statements.
I hope that that courageous PBS video camera person did not get fired for violating Lehrer's control by showing an infinitesimal few seconds of courageous protest inside the convention hall. PBS's TV convention coverage mimicked that of the "private media" giants in failing to inform American citizens about what was happening outside the Republican Convention hall.
Thus, Carolyn and Jeannie -- I conclude that we in the Southern Ohio WOUB viewing area much need to see and hear on a regular basis the "Democracy Now" material on WOUB TV and radio [AM and FM].-- so that we might better do our own "sifting and winnowing," and thus insure that we continue to have democracy in American .
I look forward to your thoughtful and prompt acceptance of our proposal. Of course I will need to learn of the specific details as to when and how often we will have this opportunity to view and hear Democracy Now -- before I write my checks to WOUB. I understand that the "Democracy Now" materials come to WOUB with minimal, if any, costs.
For Peace, Justice, and Media Diversity in America --
Chuck Overby, Emeritus Engineering Professor
The University of Wisconsin’s Sifting and Winnowing Statement on Academic Freedom
“Whatever may be the limitations which trammel inquiry elsewhere, we believe that the great State University of Wisconsin should ever encourage that continual and fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone the truth can be found.”
The above words were taken from a late 19th century University of Wisconsin Board of Trustees meeting in support of the right of economics professor Richard Ely to explore controversial ideas with his students. One of his most controversial ideas was simply his view that ordinary workers perhaps ought to have the right to collectively form unions in order to achieve some minimum semblance of “balance of power” in relation to the corporate giants who unabashedly ruled the state at that time. This corporate (robber baron) power-structure strongly sought to have professor Ely fired for polluting the minds of youth. The Wisconsin Board of Trustees courageously resisted this pressure and refused to remove Ely.
As a tribute to academic freedom, these 36 words of wisdom are displayed as a large bronze plaque, called the “Sifting and Winnowing” plaque and mounted on the wall of Bascom Hall, one of the oldest buildings on campus standing on the top of the highest hill on the campus, housing the university’s president and administration.
--- on having my brain washed and polluted by these wonderful ideas and ideals, as a graduate student and instructor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1957-1965
chuck overby
a two US war veteran [WW-II and Korea]
combat pilot in Korea
Hello Carolyn [Lewis], all of you WOUB Community Advisory Council [WOUB-CAC] members, and a few others with an interest in this matter,
I am sorry that this "forwarded email" to you is so lengthy, but I have much to share with you in the interest of enhancing the quality of our WOUB TV and Radio.
Thank you Carolyn for your reply to my December 28th email to you asking why you at WOUB have decided not to carry "Democracy Now" on WOUB. Thank you also for the copy of your letter to Bob Stewart dated July 27, 2007 -- in which you explain your rationale for denying "Democracy Now" a slot in WOUB's programming schedules. Your July 27th letter to Stewart also introduced me to him, and as a consequence, we have had a nice visit. Thank you for connecting us.
I am sorry that it has taken me so long to get back to you on this matter, Carolyn. Even though I am an emeritus professor, I somehow seem to find too much on my plate with not enough time in which to consume it in a timely manner. Thus my tardiness.
I recently spoke with one of the members of your WOUB -CAC, my friend and colleague, George Bain, about Ruth's and my December 22, 2008 $1,000 contribution offer to WOUB. George said that he had not seen our offer. I assume that perhaps because of the tight time constraints [2008 tax deductableness etc.] that my offer imposed on you -- you were not able to share it with your entire WOUB -CAC group. The offer is still open for the 2009 and 2010 calendar years, and now with no rush I take this opportunity to share Ruth's and my offer with you and the entire WOUB -CAC for your group's reconsideration of it. Furthermore, we might be interested in exploring with you-all the possibility of extending this offer or something related -- beyond the two years mentioned above and through to the ends of our lives -- and perhaps even beyond, via our three great daughters, Solveig, Kim and Heidi.
All three of our daughters are Phi Beta Kappa graduates of Ohio University [in the days before grade inflation] who earned post graduate degrees from -- Duke Law School, JD -- the University of Pennsylvania Medical School, MD -- and a Boston University graduate degree in counseling.
A SECOND TRY
Thus, Carolyn and you members of the WOUB -CAC, this email is a "second try" at getting WOUB to host some "Democracy Now" content as an expression of beautiful "diversity" on our local publicly owned "air waves" -- WOUB TV and Radio. Please see below for additional reflections on "diversity" in ideas and ideals -- my University of Wisconsin-Madison "Sifting and Winnowing" experience.
First let me say that Ruth and I find much with which to be happy about the materials presented on WOUB radio and TV -- and with the helpfulness of WOUB people when we need help. For example, the new digital format for our WOUB TV enables us to have much better reception. One of your people, Terry Douds, was thoughtfully very helpful to me in getting my "converter box" properly connected. In fact our connection with our roof-top antenna is so much better that we can now clearly receive the West Virginia PBS TV signal 33-1-2 and 3.
This is especially helpful to me in that the West Virginia PBS signal also carries the "captions" for those of us with hearing difficulties. I hope that you at WOUB can soon find a way to get those "captions" back on your TV digital signal. My hearing problem is related to my 83 years of being -- but also to my earlier years of military combat pilot service to this nation of ours [two wars WW-II and Korea] when I logged many hours of pilot time in noisy, 105 to 110 decibel, military flying machines.
Furthermore, now with digital TV upon us, we look forward to having WOUB revise its monthly "Centerpiece" brochure [print version] so as to provide all of its patrons with the new information as to what is available and when on which of the new channels for each day's 24 hours. I suspect that perhaps several of your patrons are insufficiently "Internet Wise" to ask them to seek this important information via the Internet.
Ruth and I appreciate and like much of the current content on WOUB TV such as -- The Masterpiece Classic series, Worldfocus, Bill Moyers Journal, the NOW program etc, and recent specific programs such as, "Judgment Day: Intelligent Design On Trial" and the "Assassination of Lincoln" etc. etc.-- and on WOUB Radio -- the BBC, Morning Edition, Talk of the Nation; Fresh Air, The Diane Rehm Show etc. etc.
I do, however, find it a bit sadly tedious to have to endure, each year these days, two or three months of your "TV fund-raising stuff" that turns PBS into something like that "vast wasteland of nothingness" [commercial radio and TV] as noted by that great 1960s FCC chairperson Newton N. Minow.
Of course I realize that you are not completely in control of these 'fund-raising" matters. It is "we the people" who have allowed our government to behave in ways that destroy "community" with its lust for so-called "free markets" "deregulation" and "privatization" of everything. In my opinion "community" is that which we humans must do collectively in order to enable a humane, just, creative, and dignified life for all of us as sisters and brothers on our beautiful Planet Earth. It is "we the people" who need to restore that beautiful "diversity" to PBS across its spectrum without having to lose months each year to "content diluting" fund raising and to grasping for "corporate advertisers."
"We the people" are smart enough to understand that when PBS's Lehrer evening News Show is sponsored by a huge oil conglomerate -- we will most likely not see anything on Lehrer's news that might seriously offend their interests. My forty years of professional engineering "Green Technology by Design" activity [including time in the US Congress Office of Technology Assessment on these matters] enables me to understand how important it is that "oil conglomerate" and US automobile company interests and their "public relations" [PR] -- be challenged from time to time.
REGARDING YOUR JULY 27 LETTER TO STEWART, CAROLYN --
In reading your July 27, 2007 letter to Bob Stewart explaining why you refuse to host some "Democracy Now" on WOUB TV and Radio -- I find that I disagree with most of your "practical and philosophical" arguments, Carolyn.
In addition to the content of my December 22, 2008 email to you Carolyn -- here with this "forwarded email" to your entire WOUB-CAC and to several others who have had some involvement in this matter -- I burden you all with one additional "attachment" -- the University of Wisconsin's "Sifting and Winnowing" idea and ideal. I do this to help you understand a bit more of my reasons and passion for seeking more beautiful "diversity" for WOUB-TV and Radio by having "Democracy Now" appear on "our air waves." I am a great believer in the importance of "diversity" in all its wonderful dimensions ranging from racial to intellectual. "Democracy Now" on WOUB's programming schedule will enhance viewers' ability to "sift and winnow" in their search for truth -- something absolutely essential in a democracy. By adding some "Democracy Now," WOUB will be -- "ever encouraging that continual and fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone the truth can be found.”
I look forward to a creative and positive response from you, Carolyn, and also from any of the rest of you who are receiving this email from me -- as you might see fit.
Peace,
Chuck Overby, Emeritus Engineering Professor
ORIGINAL LETTER OF OFFER FROM OVERBY [sent Dec. 22, 2008]
Hello Carolyn,
My wife and I would like to make a nice pledge in support of WOUB, AM and FM radio and TV -- before the end of December 2008. Because time is short for you to respond to my proposal [you may also not even be here at the moment] -- I send a copy of this proposal to Jeannie Jeffers, your Director of Development.
We would like to make a $500 tax deductible gift for the 2008 calendar year, and another of the same magnitude for the 2009 year, in December 2009. There is, however, a condition connected with this offer -- namely that you arrange to have the Amy Goodman "Democracy Now" programs [AM and FM radio and TV] available on a regular basis on WOUB, beginning as soon as possible in 2009.
Let me explain my rationale for this offer.
In my 83 years of being on Planet Earth, I have come to understand how very important it is in a democracy [one in which one might wish to live] -- for us as citizens of that democracy to be exposed to as wide a spectrum of views on the important matters that Impact our lives now and in the future. This is important so that we can do some "sifting and winnowing" from among this diversity of ideas and views -- and thus more rationally and intelligently come to our own unique understanding of matters and issues that impact our lives. It is only through such a "sifting and winnowing" process that we have any hope of approaching "truth."
Also in my 83 years that includes five years of active duty in two of America's wars [World War II and Korea (combat pilot in Korea)] -- I have come to the conclusion that, especially in these days of concentration of America's "private media" power in fewer and fewer hands -- it is most urgent that we use our wonderful "Public Radio and Television" gifts to enhance the "diversity" of information available to U.S. citizens -- and thus become a small blessed David in our battle with the Goliaths -- our poorly regulated "private media." Unless we do this, I fear that we will continue to lose that beautiful essence of democracy in America.
Let me now relate my broad concerns to a very specific personal experience that I recently had in the Minneapolis St. Paul area. This experience helped to motivate me to write this proposal to you at WOUB. I presented a paper at our Veterans for Peace [VFP] Annual Convention the end of August 2008 in Minneapolis. My paper dealt with one of my long term professional engineering themes and passions -- "Green Technology by Design As Means To Help Prevent Oil And Other Kinds of Resource Wars, And To Help Prevent Global Warming."
The Republican National Convention took place in St. Paul immediately following our VFP Convention. The evening of Friday, August 29th our VFP Convention was introduced to Ms. Amy Goodman who was in the Minneapolis-St Paul area with her independent media group "Democracy Now" -- to cover the Republican Convention.
Ms. Goodman and other "independent" television and media people tried to report on some "pre-emptive" police strikes and in general were accosted by droves of St. Paul and Minneapolis police, and perhaps also by some Federal governmental security persons -- who sought to drive them away from the public streets around the Republican National Convention. Aside from a small bit of local reporting on these matters, most of America was not allowed to know that these kinds of things were happening outside the Republican National Convention Hall. These events constitute a concrete and specific illustration of my above general commentary on the failure of the "private media" giants to inform the people of America on matters related to this political convention. These "private media" giants failed America in this instance -- and unfortunately so did PBS.
Ms. Goodman, an independent journalist and TV program producer, and other independent media people who were simply non-violently trying to video the activities outside the convention hall, were harassed. I believe that she and possibly some of the other independents were arrested -- believe it or not, for trying to share these matters with American citizens.
Because of a leg and back physical disability I was unable to join the multitudes of street demonstrators. Thus, I watched the convention on TV -- mostly the PBS Lehrer group's coverage -- but with some switching from time to time to the "private media" giants' channels. I was appalled at the coverage of the Convention -- including that by Lehrer's group. From what we were shown by the media, including PBS -- one would have thought that there were no protests what-so-ever connected with the 2008 Republican National Convention in St. Paul Minnesota. The American people were denied the opportunity to see what was actually happening -- thus limiting their ability to do their own "sifting and winnowing" in search for the truth and reality in St. Paul.
In all of this "controlled media" convention coverage there was one brief moment of excitement when a courageous PBS video camera person turned the PBS camera on a creative protester who somehow managed to sneak into the convention hall with some large poster signs that he briefly unfurled before burly men dragged him out of TV's eye. This protestor unfurled two banners -- one said, referring to the Iraq war, "You cannot win an invasion" -- and the other said "McCain votes against veterans." As a veteran of two of America's wars I know the truth of both of these statements.
I hope that that courageous PBS video camera person did not get fired for violating Lehrer's control by showing an infinitesimal few seconds of courageous protest inside the convention hall. PBS's TV convention coverage mimicked that of the "private media" giants in failing to inform American citizens about what was happening outside the Republican Convention hall.
Thus, Carolyn and Jeannie -- I conclude that we in the Southern Ohio WOUB viewing area much need to see and hear on a regular basis the "Democracy Now" material on WOUB TV and radio [AM and FM].-- so that we might better do our own "sifting and winnowing," and thus insure that we continue to have democracy in American .
I look forward to your thoughtful and prompt acceptance of our proposal. Of course I will need to learn of the specific details as to when and how often we will have this opportunity to view and hear Democracy Now -- before I write my checks to WOUB. I understand that the "Democracy Now" materials come to WOUB with minimal, if any, costs.
For Peace, Justice, and Media Diversity in America --
Chuck Overby, Emeritus Engineering Professor
The University of Wisconsin’s Sifting and Winnowing Statement on Academic Freedom
“Whatever may be the limitations which trammel inquiry elsewhere, we believe that the great State University of Wisconsin should ever encourage that continual and fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone the truth can be found.”
The above words were taken from a late 19th century University of Wisconsin Board of Trustees meeting in support of the right of economics professor Richard Ely to explore controversial ideas with his students. One of his most controversial ideas was simply his view that ordinary workers perhaps ought to have the right to collectively form unions in order to achieve some minimum semblance of “balance of power” in relation to the corporate giants who unabashedly ruled the state at that time. This corporate (robber baron) power-structure strongly sought to have professor Ely fired for polluting the minds of youth. The Wisconsin Board of Trustees courageously resisted this pressure and refused to remove Ely.
As a tribute to academic freedom, these 36 words of wisdom are displayed as a large bronze plaque, called the “Sifting and Winnowing” plaque and mounted on the wall of Bascom Hall, one of the oldest buildings on campus standing on the top of the highest hill on the campus, housing the university’s president and administration.
--- on having my brain washed and polluted by these wonderful ideas and ideals, as a graduate student and instructor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1957-1965
chuck overby
a two US war veteran [WW-II and Korea]
combat pilot in Korea
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
WOUB Community Advisory Council meeting recording
This recording of the Oct. 28, 2008 meeting of the WOUB Community Advisory Council is of particular interest in that the public was not allowed to make comment during the meeting.* [for a copy of the meeting agenda click on
This unedited recording is provided by the AFP.
This unedited recording is provided by the AFP.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Guess who’s attacking the media reform movement?
Why does Bill O’Reilly say that the fourth annual National Conference for Media Reform, which was held June 6–8, 2008, in Minneapolis, was an anti-American conference of the “lunatic left,” “fascists,” and “unstable people” who want to take over this country and use the government to suppress Fox News? The conference, which spearheads the media reform movement in this country, is sponsored by Free Press and included among its speakers FCC Commissioners Michael Coop and Jonathan Adelstein, as well as U.S. Sen. Byron Dorgan and U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison. NCMR2008 featured more than 200 presenters and speakers and attracted almost 4,500 attendees over the June weekend.
O’Reilly’s analysis deceptive bloviating, which focused on selective editing of footage shot at the conference and identified George Soros as the financier of the far-out left, was no more illuminating about the purpose of the conference than the audio and video clips that were all the MSM rage on Barack Obama’s former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright. No, the substance of the NCMR2008 was much, much more than O’Reilly and his two pundits would acknowledge in their less-than-eight-minute segment. Bill Moyers’s address succinctly covered the spirit of the media reform movement in this country. This quote from Moyers’s address highlights one of the central problems with mainstream news media and the pundits that inhabit them:
- The stars of the dominant media now tell us they did indeed ask tough questions of government during the run-up to the war. But you will go through the transcripts of that period before the war and you will find very few tough questions, and if you come across them, you will discover they are asked of the wrong people. ... Sadly, the Fourth Estate became the Fifth Column of democracy, colluding with the powers-that-be in a “culture of deception,” to quote Scott McClellan, that subverts the thing most necessary to freedom — the truth. Danny Schechter reminds us on Huffington Post that after the media’s “all the war, all the time” coverage of this contrived and manufactured war, Vice President Cheney dropped into a post-invasion media dinner to thank journalists for their service.
I. F. Stone would have had something to say about that “service.”
The June 15 show of Reform Radio featured a conversation with two of those left-wing loons—Alex Thompson, an Ohio University graduating senior majoring in video production, and Elizabeth Goussetis, a 2006 graduate of the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism and reporter for the Athens Messenger—who attended the conference. A podcast of that conversation is available here.
Here’s two—among other—reasons that O’Reilly smears the media reform movement in this country: it would minimize the power, if not presence, of Fox News and increase public awareness and outrage at the actions of those that control the medium as well as the message, as shown in the Free Press video below. Take a look.
2008 Big Media Hall of Shame
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
The Efforts to Have WOUB Carry Democracy Now!
ATHENS FREE PRESS - Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Our group, Athens Free Press, was formed a year ago in May of 2007, and includes, so far, members from Athens, Meigs, and Belmont Counties.
The principal goal of AFP is to persuade WOUB officials to add the program Democracy Now to its radio or television schedule. We have thus far been unsuccessful. Democracy Now is an award-winning program that is carried by over 700 radio or television stations and has been adding one or two stations a week. One can also get the program via the Internet at www.democracynow.org; however, many people in SE Ohio do not have Internet services or only have dial-up service. We are convinced that the addition of DN to WOUB’s weekly radio or television programming schedule would increase access to this outstanding program. Such access would also enhance and add diversity to WOUB’s coverage and analysis of events and issues that are important to the citizens of Southeast Ohio.
Over the past year, members of Athens Free Press met twice with WOUB officials and separately with the Dean of the College of Communications. We wrote letters to explain our position to members of the local community. We held an open forum at the Athens Public Library. We presented our case at Advisory Council meetings. We e-mailed information directly to members of the Advisory Council. One of our members obtained relevant information from WOUB via “information requests.”
From the responses and information we have received, the opposition to our proposal stems from WOUB officials and staff, some members of the WOUB Community Advisory Council, and one person in Athens who has registered her/his opposition directly to WOUB. WOUB officials reject our proposal because, for example, they contend that DN does not measure up to their professional standards, that it is partisan, and that AFP is not representative of their audiences. We have responded in detail to all of their objections.
On our side, there are a considerable number of people who support our proposal, including 306 persons who have signed our petition in the Athens area in recent months, and 143 persons who signed the petition at events in or near Belmont County, for a total of 449 signatures. We have 30 persons on our AFP e-mail list. WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT AS WELL. PLEASE SIGN OUR PETITION.
Further information about Democracy Now and and Athens Free Press can be obtained by requesting information from Bob Sheak at www.sheak@ohio.edu or by visiting our website/blog at http://athensfreepress.blogspot.com.
Today, we plan to give Carolyn Bailey Lewis, Director and General Manager of WOUB, copies of the signatures we have collected on our petition.
Our group, Athens Free Press, was formed a year ago in May of 2007, and includes, so far, members from Athens, Meigs, and Belmont Counties.
The principal goal of AFP is to persuade WOUB officials to add the program Democracy Now to its radio or television schedule. We have thus far been unsuccessful. Democracy Now is an award-winning program that is carried by over 700 radio or television stations and has been adding one or two stations a week. One can also get the program via the Internet at www.democracynow.org; however, many people in SE Ohio do not have Internet services or only have dial-up service. We are convinced that the addition of DN to WOUB’s weekly radio or television programming schedule would increase access to this outstanding program. Such access would also enhance and add diversity to WOUB’s coverage and analysis of events and issues that are important to the citizens of Southeast Ohio.
Over the past year, members of Athens Free Press met twice with WOUB officials and separately with the Dean of the College of Communications. We wrote letters to explain our position to members of the local community. We held an open forum at the Athens Public Library. We presented our case at Advisory Council meetings. We e-mailed information directly to members of the Advisory Council. One of our members obtained relevant information from WOUB via “information requests.”
From the responses and information we have received, the opposition to our proposal stems from WOUB officials and staff, some members of the WOUB Community Advisory Council, and one person in Athens who has registered her/his opposition directly to WOUB. WOUB officials reject our proposal because, for example, they contend that DN does not measure up to their professional standards, that it is partisan, and that AFP is not representative of their audiences. We have responded in detail to all of their objections.
On our side, there are a considerable number of people who support our proposal, including 306 persons who have signed our petition in the Athens area in recent months, and 143 persons who signed the petition at events in or near Belmont County, for a total of 449 signatures. We have 30 persons on our AFP e-mail list. WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT AS WELL. PLEASE SIGN OUR PETITION.
Further information about Democracy Now and and Athens Free Press can be obtained by requesting information from Bob Sheak at www.sheak@ohio.edu or by visiting our website/blog at http://athensfreepress.blogspot.com.
Today, we plan to give Carolyn Bailey Lewis, Director and General Manager of WOUB, copies of the signatures we have collected on our petition.
Response to letter: "Demand for 'Democracy Now'..."
Dear Folks,
The following letter from Don Canterbury (Stone Castle Road, Athens) appears in the Athens News. His arguments are not new - or easily rebuttable - because they are based on impressions or assertions that lack evidence. See our responses in bold type in the body of the letter.
Bob Sheak
"Demand for ‘Democracy Now’ not as great as its local supporters pretend" (May 19, 2008)
To the Editor:
In response to Michael Barr’s letter on May 12 regarding the hypocrisy of WOUB officials:
I volunteer regularly for WOUB. I’ve read the letters to the editor about WOUB and “Democracy Now.”
The letters make it seem like a huge number of people want the show to air. I can tell you that the number of people I’ve encountered (both people that I know and people I have encountered during pledge drives and other events at WOUB) wanting that show to run is very small. - He is saying that not many people he encounters in these situations say the "want the show."
My reaction is that not many - or any - people in these situations know about DN even think to discuss it. This says nothing about the substance of DN's programs, an award-winning show that is now carried by over 700 stations. The signatures we have collected on our petition represent a few hundred people who have signed on specifically in favor of having WOUB include DN in their radio or television programming. That may not be many, but its not insignificant either.
The biggest thing that is hard for me to understand is that the show is available at democracynow.org at any time. Why is it so important for WOUB to air the show when it is available for anyone who is interested in listening to it?
He misses the point here. Many people in this area have no internet service, or only dial-up service, making web access to audio and video impractical, and who is he to decide that DN should be relegated to second class delivery options? (but thanks for the plug for the democracynow.org Web site)
I believe that it is a small group of people that want their political opinions to be showcased to make others believe the same way they do. I think that is wrong. I listen to a lot of news programs and make my own decisions. I don’t need any certain program to tell me how to think.
His statements here are based on impressions and assertions without evidence. He asserts that we are a small group. He asserts that we want others to believe the same way we do. Our position has been that DN would enhance and diversify the programming available on WOUB. At present, many of the perspectives on the news that DN offers are essentially censored from the broadcast news options in this area. We are not asking to censor other perspectives, or tell anyone how to think. What we are asking is to end the censorship and give the public access to more diversity from which to form opinions. DN would broaden the information on the issues for the writer and others, not tell him how to think. By the way, just this weekend on "Bob Edwards Weekend," which is distributed on NPR by Public Radio International, Edwards spent a half hour talking to Amy Goodman, the host of DN. Edwards is well known in public media circles and apparently thinks highly enough of Amy and DN to invite her for an extended discussion of DN and Amy's recent book, which builds on interviews from DN. By the way, Bill Moyers, another major media figure, is also a big booster of DN. Moyers hosts his own program on PBS every Friday Night. He was a guest on DN on the May 7th program.
WOUB is carried through a huge part of southeastern Ohio and parts of West Virginia and Kentucky.
I think they have a great mix of programs that show the different sides of every story. I don’t want anything to be taken off the air to make room for Democracy Now.
This is his opinion with no supporting evidence. We have documented that guests and hosts of NPR and PBS were wrong in their support of Colin Powell's Iraq address to the UN Security Council on February 5, 2003 promoting the invasion of Iraq. The coverage of Haiti, Israel-Palestine, and a host of other issues that are covered by NPR and PBS reflect a narrow range of viewpoints. To advance the issue raised by he writer of the letter would require a close examination of how DN covers specific issues or topics compared to NPR and/or PBS.
As far as all the fuss about the naming of the newsroom, the guy (Roger Ailes) went to OU and worked for WOUB as a student.
Would it be right to not take money from someone because he has political beliefs that you don’t agree with? I don’t think so. I think he’s been successful in the business and wants to provide money to help out students.
Roger Ailes gave WOUB a $500,000 gift for a newsroom in the RTV building which has been named after him. Ailes is the principal force behind Fox News, a station that is renown for a donor notorious for news right-wing, pro-Bush and pro-Republican stances. Accepting a gift is one thing.
Naming a the newsroom after the a donor notorious for right-wing biased news donor raises serious questions about what influence this may have on WOUB's independence. is something that is worrisome. It doesn't reflect What does it mean for an educational program a desire to build a program for students that is in the tradition of journalists who pursue the facts of stories from diverse sources, even when the facts conflict with positions of held by government officials or by the interests of large economic interests.
I find it hard to believe that anybody would have a problem with that. I think if you do, then you’re biased in your beliefs. Anyone who thinks that money for the newsroom is tied in with the decision to not run “Democracy Now” is wrong. When I work pledge drives, we don’t ask someone’s political affiliations. The money raised has nothing to do with politics; it has to do with supporting a good radio station.
WOUB officials have expressed the opinion, with no supporting evidence, that carrying Democracy Now would hurt fundraising. We have offered evidence to the contrary, that in fact carrying DN may well enhance fundraising among listeners. Inevitably, this raises the question as to whether the fundraising that WOUB is concerned about is not from ordinary listeners, but from the likes of Roger Ailes. Our position is that WOUB's programming would be enhanced and diversified in good ways by the inclusion of DN. And citizens in Southeast Ohio would then be in a better, more informed, position to judge the truthfulness of what those in power tell us.
The following letter from Don Canterbury (Stone Castle Road, Athens) appears in the Athens News. His arguments are not new - or easily rebuttable - because they are based on impressions or assertions that lack evidence. See our responses in bold type in the body of the letter.
Bob Sheak
"Demand for ‘Democracy Now’ not as great as its local supporters pretend" (May 19, 2008)
To the Editor:
In response to Michael Barr’s letter on May 12 regarding the hypocrisy of WOUB officials:
I volunteer regularly for WOUB. I’ve read the letters to the editor about WOUB and “Democracy Now.”
The letters make it seem like a huge number of people want the show to air. I can tell you that the number of people I’ve encountered (both people that I know and people I have encountered during pledge drives and other events at WOUB) wanting that show to run is very small. - He is saying that not many people he encounters in these situations say the "want the show."
My reaction is that not many - or any - people in these situations know about DN even think to discuss it. This says nothing about the substance of DN's programs, an award-winning show that is now carried by over 700 stations. The signatures we have collected on our petition represent a few hundred people who have signed on specifically in favor of having WOUB include DN in their radio or television programming. That may not be many, but its not insignificant either.
The biggest thing that is hard for me to understand is that the show is available at democracynow.org at any time. Why is it so important for WOUB to air the show when it is available for anyone who is interested in listening to it?
He misses the point here. Many people in this area have no internet service, or only dial-up service, making web access to audio and video impractical, and who is he to decide that DN should be relegated to second class delivery options? (but thanks for the plug for the democracynow.org Web site)
I believe that it is a small group of people that want their political opinions to be showcased to make others believe the same way they do. I think that is wrong. I listen to a lot of news programs and make my own decisions. I don’t need any certain program to tell me how to think.
His statements here are based on impressions and assertions without evidence. He asserts that we are a small group. He asserts that we want others to believe the same way we do. Our position has been that DN would enhance and diversify the programming available on WOUB. At present, many of the perspectives on the news that DN offers are essentially censored from the broadcast news options in this area. We are not asking to censor other perspectives, or tell anyone how to think. What we are asking is to end the censorship and give the public access to more diversity from which to form opinions. DN would broaden the information on the issues for the writer and others, not tell him how to think. By the way, just this weekend on "Bob Edwards Weekend," which is distributed on NPR by Public Radio International, Edwards spent a half hour talking to Amy Goodman, the host of DN. Edwards is well known in public media circles and apparently thinks highly enough of Amy and DN to invite her for an extended discussion of DN and Amy's recent book, which builds on interviews from DN. By the way, Bill Moyers, another major media figure, is also a big booster of DN. Moyers hosts his own program on PBS every Friday Night. He was a guest on DN on the May 7th program.
WOUB is carried through a huge part of southeastern Ohio and parts of West Virginia and Kentucky.
I think they have a great mix of programs that show the different sides of every story. I don’t want anything to be taken off the air to make room for Democracy Now.
This is his opinion with no supporting evidence. We have documented that guests and hosts of NPR and PBS were wrong in their support of Colin Powell's Iraq address to the UN Security Council on February 5, 2003 promoting the invasion of Iraq. The coverage of Haiti, Israel-Palestine, and a host of other issues that are covered by NPR and PBS reflect a narrow range of viewpoints. To advance the issue raised by he writer of the letter would require a close examination of how DN covers specific issues or topics compared to NPR and/or PBS.
As far as all the fuss about the naming of the newsroom, the guy (Roger Ailes) went to OU and worked for WOUB as a student.
Would it be right to not take money from someone because he has political beliefs that you don’t agree with? I don’t think so. I think he’s been successful in the business and wants to provide money to help out students.
Roger Ailes gave WOUB a $500,000 gift for a newsroom in the RTV building which has been named after him. Ailes is the principal force behind Fox News, a station that is renown for a donor notorious for news right-wing, pro-Bush and pro-Republican stances. Accepting a gift is one thing.
Naming a the newsroom after the a donor notorious for right-wing biased news donor raises serious questions about what influence this may have on WOUB's independence. is something that is worrisome. It doesn't reflect What does it mean for an educational program a desire to build a program for students that is in the tradition of journalists who pursue the facts of stories from diverse sources, even when the facts conflict with positions of held by government officials or by the interests of large economic interests.
I find it hard to believe that anybody would have a problem with that. I think if you do, then you’re biased in your beliefs. Anyone who thinks that money for the newsroom is tied in with the decision to not run “Democracy Now” is wrong. When I work pledge drives, we don’t ask someone’s political affiliations. The money raised has nothing to do with politics; it has to do with supporting a good radio station.
WOUB officials have expressed the opinion, with no supporting evidence, that carrying Democracy Now would hurt fundraising. We have offered evidence to the contrary, that in fact carrying DN may well enhance fundraising among listeners. Inevitably, this raises the question as to whether the fundraising that WOUB is concerned about is not from ordinary listeners, but from the likes of Roger Ailes. Our position is that WOUB's programming would be enhanced and diversified in good ways by the inclusion of DN. And citizens in Southeast Ohio would then be in a better, more informed, position to judge the truthfulness of what those in power tell us.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
