ACM | Alliance for Community Media

Support Media Democracy!

On November 7, a Snowstorm! blanketed the entire United States, from Florida to Alaska, from Hawai’i to Maine as Public, Educational and Government (PEG) channels simultaneously showed one minute of video snow, in protest and solidarity.

This nation has come to a critical juncture in the legislative battle to protect local franchising— especially Public, Educational, Government and Institutional Network resources for our communities.

The bills before Congress, as written, give a few powerful corporations absolute control over the information passing into and out of every home in America. No people can be free who do not have freedom to share any information they feel they need to make decisions. The green-space provided by Public, Educational and Governmental access channels is a real protection against corporate domination of our communities.

Corporations should have the freedom to compete and innovate. Do our children deserve less? We believe in profits, but not at the expense of our Democracy.

If you believe that freedom of information is key to democracy, then we ask that you use the form below to voice your concern about the pending legislation. Your concern will be automatically forwarded to your Congressional Representatives. The time to speak out is now

November 21, 2009

Subject:

We are writing you to express our strong support for Public, Education and Government Access resources which our community receives as a result of local cable/video franchises.  We are concerned that none of the national video bills before Congress offer enough channels or bandwidth for public use.  We are also concerned that financial support for use of community channels is either inadequate or needs more protection than what is described in these bills.

We believe in community media.  It provides coverage of local government activities.  It provides a forum for important community discussions.  It gives our neighbors a face and a voice.  It provides an important a sense of meaning in a fast moving, complex world.

As your constituents, we ask that you:
1	Please make sure that any changes in the local franchise for video and information to the home include enough community bandwidth for now and in the future.
2	Please be sure that any legislation includes direct financial support for public use of these resources.

We want you to know that The Alliance for Community Media speaks for our concerns and should be included in all hearings and conversations about the pending legislation. We want you to know that if you address these concerns, then we will be offer our support to you.

If not, then we will support actions to defeat these bills.

Thank you very much for your considerations.

Sincerely,

We will add your signature from the information you provide.

First Name*

Last Name*

Email*

Street*

Street 2

City*

State/Province*

Zip/Postal Code*

Send an Email

Send a Fax

Support Media Democracy!