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8:00-8:01 Billboard:
The U.S. faces wave of media mergers and unprecedented consolidation
if FCC relaxes media ownership rules
INTRO TEXT: FCC Chairman Michael Powell last week refused
to delay the upcoming June 2nd vote on media ownership rules.
Critics say relaxed rules will lead to more mergers, leaving
a few huge companies in control of what people see, hear and
read.
Dissident FCC Commissioner Jonathan S. Adelstein speaks
out against media ownership deregulation
INTRO TEXT: Jonathan S. Adelstein, one of five Commissioners
on the FCC, has been attending public hearings across the
country to find out the public's views about FCC media ownership
rules. We listen to a speech he gave on April 26th at San
Francisco City Hall.
Indonesian military launches a massive attack on separatist
movement in Aceh.
INTRO TEXT: Indonesian fighter jets bombed the Free Aceh
Movement rebels and scores of troops began parachuting into
Aceh in what is expected to be Indonesia's biggest military
operation since its invasion of East Timor in 1975.
8:01-8:06 Headlines
8:06-8:07 One Minute Music Break
8:07-8:25 Indonesian military launches a massive attack on
separatist movement in Aceh
The Indonesian army has launched a massive attack on separatist
rebels in Aceh.
Fighter jets bombed the Free Aceh Movement rebels and scores
of troops began parachuting in. Some 25,000 Indonesian troops
are in the region and thousands more are moving in. The military
says it has moved 15 warships to the region.
The Associated Press is reporting the attack is expected
to be Indonesia's biggest military operation since its invasion
of East Timor in 1975.
Last week, peace talks in Tokyo broke down after the rebels
rejected Jakarta's demands to lay down their weapons, drop
their bid for independence and accept regional autonomy.
President Megawati Sukarnoputri then signed a decree authorizing
war in the oil- and gas-rich province and imposing martial
law. The military immediately arrested five senior rebels.
December’s landmark peace deal is now in tatters.
At least 12,000 people have been killed over the last 26
years of violence in the region.
- Pratap Chatterjee, independent journalist
- Dita Sari, National Front For Indonesian Workers Struggle
8:20-8:21 One Minute Music Break
8:25-8:40 The U.S. faces wave of media mergers and unprecedented
consolidation if FCC relaxes media ownership rules
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell
last week refused to delay the upcoming vote on media ownership
rules.
Democratic FCC Commissioners Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein
had requested a delay so they can evaluate the impact of the
rules and reach a possible compromise.
But Powell said he would not grant the request because it
is not backed by the majority on the FCC. (Powell is the son
of Secretary of State General Colin Powell.)
So now, the FCC will go ahead and vote on the rules on June
2nd.
The rules have not even been made public – Powell also
refused the dissident commissioner’s request to release
the rules so the public can debate them.
Still, some things are known about the upcoming vote.
Under the expected changes, for the first time ever broadcasters
will be allowed to own television stations that reach more
than 35 per cent of the country; own a newspaper and broadcast
outlet in the same market; and the four largest TV networks
will be free to merge.
That means that a single CEO could theoretically own all
of the largest media outlets in the country.
Analysts say if the revised rules are passed, the US will
see a wave of media mergers and consolidation that is unprecedented
in the country’s history.
Major media conglomerates such as AOL Time Warner, General
Electric, Disney and Viacom, and Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.
are all lobbying for the changes.
Media activists have organized a series of public hearings
on the issue, the next one is this Wednesday in Atlanta.
- Juan Gonzalez, co-host, Democracy Now! and president
of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists
- Seeta Pena Gangadharan, media activist who has been working
on FCC deregulation issues since the passing of the 1996
Telecommunications Act. She recently co-founded the Center
for International Media Action.
Links: National Association of Hispanic Journalists: www.nahj.org
8:40-8:41 One Minute Music Break
8:41-8:58 Dissident FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein on
media deregulation
Jonathan Adelstein, one of five Commissioners on the FCC,
has been attending public hearings across the country to find
out the public's views about FCC media ownership rules.
We listen to a speech he gave on April 26th at San Francisco
City Hall at the first hearing on media ownership rules held
in California.
Media activists have organized a series of public hearings,
the next one is this Wednesday in Atlanta.
- Jonathan S. Adelstein, FCC Commissioner
8:58-8:59 Outro and Credits
9:00-9:01 Billboard:
9:01-9:06 Headlines
9:06-9:07 One Minute Music Break
9:07-9:20 Harlem Woman Dies After Botched Police Drug Raid
Intro: Alberta Spruill, 57, became the fifth New Yorker since
the fall to be caught in a wrongful "no-knock raid."
All are black. We talk with the Rev. Al Sharpton and Lt. Adams
from 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care
It was 10 minutes passed six on Friday morning. 57-year-old
Alberta Spruill was in her sixth floor Harlem apartment on
West 143rd Street. And as she did every day for the last 30
years she was preparing to go to work at the Department of
Citywide Administrative Services.
Then her door was kicked in. A stun grenade rocked the apartment.
Soon she was handcuffed to her chair. The 12 intruders rifled
through her belongings. She complained of chest pains. Within
two hours she was dead of a heart attack.
The intruders were not robbers but officers from the New
York City police who targeted her apartment as part of its
so-called war on drugs.
A court had granted the police a no-knock warrant. But it
turns out the police raided the wrong apartment. The information
was based on a tip from a confidential drug informant.
A law enforcement source told the Daily News the tipster
was about to be dropped from the confidential informant program
because he had previously given police flawed leads.
Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly has apologized to Spruill's
family and ordered an investigation into the raid.
Newsday reported today that Spruill is the fifth person since
the fall to be caught in a wrongful "no-knock raid."
All are black.
- Lt. Eric Adams, founder and president of 100 Blacks in
Law Enforcement Who Care
- Rev. Al Sharpton, founder of the National Action Network
and 2004 Presidential candidate
9:20-9:21 One Minute Music Break
9:21-9:40 “The Ballot or the Bullet. It’s Liberty
or Death. It’s Freedom for Everybody or Freedom for
Nobody”: Malcolm X would have been 78 years old today.
INTRO: We’ll hear his famous speech, ‘The Ballot
or the Bullet’ recorded in Detroit in 1964 a year before
he was assassinated.
On this day in 1925, Malcolm X was born. He would have been
78 years old today.
Malcolm X would have had something to say about Alberta Spruill’s
death.
It was his response to police brutality that first brought
the Nation of Islam to the public eye.
On April 4th,1958, New York police beat two Black Muslims.
Johnson X received a savage blow to the head and was taken
to the police precinct.
Within an hour, dozens of young Black Muslims arrived outside
the precinct in neat formation. Malcolm asked to see Johnson
X. Police told him that he wasn’t there. Then, they
admitted he was there, but said that Malcolm couldn’t
see him.
Malcolm pointed to the rows of Black Muslims outside, who
had been joined by a large number of residents. He said they
men would remain outside the precinct until they could be
reassured that their brother had received medical attention.
Police relented and, on Malcolm's instruction, Hinton was
moved to Harlem Hospital. Only then did Malcolm order the
Muslims to disperse.
The police captain said: “No man should have this much
power over that many people. We cannot control this town of
one man can wield that kind of power.“
Later, commentators said Malcolm was the only black man in
America: 'who could stop a race riot - or start one'.
Malcolm X was born Malcolm Little on May 19, 1925 in Omaha,
Nebraska.
His mother, Louise Norton Little, raised the family's eight
children. His father, Earl Little, was an outspoken Baptist
minister and avid supporter of Black Nationalist leader Marcus
Garvey.
His father was targeted by the KKK. His family was driven
from their home in Nebraska and their first home in Lansing,
Michigan was burned to the ground. When Malcolm was just six
years old, his father’s body was found beaten to a pulp.
Malcolm excelled in school and graduated from junior high
at the top of his class. But he lost interest in school when
his favorite teacher told him his idea of becoming a lawyer
was "no realistic goal for a nigger."
He dropped out, and eventually wound up in Harlem, New York,
where he became a drug dealer and a thief. At the age of 20,
he was caught and sentenced to several years in prison for
robbery.
In prison, Malcolm renewed his studies and found the teachings
of Elijah Muhammad, the leader of the Nation of Islam.
By the time he got out of prison, Malcolm had converted to
Islam and changed his name. He considered "Little"
a slave name and chose the surname "X" to symbolize
his lost African name.
Malcolm was appointed a minister and national spokesman for
the Nation of Islam. He established new mosques in Detroit,
Michigan Harlem, and other cities. He was largely credited
with increasing the Nation of Islam's membership from 500
in 1952 to 30,000 in 1963.
As Malcolm X's fame began to supersede Elijah Muhammad's,
tensions grew within the Nation of Islam. FBI agents infiltrated
the organization. Shortly after learning Elijah Muhammad was
betraying his own teachings and having affairs with several
women, Malcolm X split with the Nation of Islam. He founded
the Organization of Afro-American Unity.
Malcolm X was shot to death on February 21, 1965 by Black
Muslims. Many believe the FBI helped to foment the tensions
between Malcolm X and the Nation of Islam.
- Malcolm X, speaking in Detroit in 1964. This speech is
known as 'The Ballot or the Bullet.'
9:40-9:41 One Minute Music Break
9:41-9:58 Malcolm X Cont’d
9:58-9:59 Outro and Credits
For a copy of today’s program, call 1 (800) 881 2359.
Our website is www.democracynow.org.
Our email address is mail@democracynow.org.
Democracy Now! is produced by Kris Abrams, Mike Burke, Angie
Karran, Sharif Abdul Kouddous, Ana Nogueira, Elizabeth Press
with help from Noah Reibel and Vilka Tzouras. Mike Di Filippo
is our music maestro and engineer. Thanks also to Uri Galed,
Angela Alston, Emily Kunstler, Orlando Richards, Simba Rousseau,
Rafael delaUz, Gabriel Weiss, Johnny Sender, Rich Kim, Karen
Ranucci, Fatima Mojadiddy, Denis Moynihan and Jenny Filipazzo.
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