Month: January 2001

Mediachannel.org has assembled an array of in depth reports on the public protests in the Czech Republic over recent attempts by the gov’t to secure greater politcal control over Czech public television. They ask the question: “Is it just an ongoing political battle or is it a media reform movement taking shape?”

The New York Times has an interesting article on the rejuvenation of short films–long thought dead in mainstream Hollywood–due to Internet and digital video technology.It’s fairly even-handed, noting that a few creators of some popular shorts posted to the Internet have gotten opportunities in Hollywood, but that this becomes more difficult as the number of…

As it has been widely reported, FCC chair William Kennard has resigned, in expectation for a change of direction at the FCC being brought on by president-elect Bush. Kenndard announced that he plans to join the Aspen Institute, where he will become Senior Fellow of the Communications and Society Program.As it’s turned out, Kenndard was…

The Houston Press tells the story of Rice University’s radio station KTRU, which narrowly escaped an administration plan to seize total control of the station away from the students who have been running it for the last 25 years. The article skillfully places this event in the larger context of the corporatizing of universities, whereby…

In case you missed it, the Urbana-Champaign (IL) Independent Media Center website is now on-line and ready for your interaction. As you’ll read on the site, the U-C IMC has leased a storefront in Downtown Urbana to house its operations and to be a sort of high-tech media community center. If you live anywhere in…

Radio Free Conscience will be relocating soon to a new domain. I want to consolidate RFC’s grassroots media emphasis with information and articles on grassroots media, (diy) electronics, culture jamming and other related stuff. The new domain is mediageek.org, because I am a certifiable media geek, and will be the new host as of Mon.…

The music industry from a musician’s standpoint: Rock and Rap Confidential has put up a page asking the question Why Do We Need the Music Industry?” My answer: we don’t, except for the fact that not everyone can download music from the Internet and the big box CD stores won’t carry anything that doesn’t come…

Looking to jumpstart the snail-like pace of Digitial / Hi-Definition TV, USA Today reports that the FCC is likely to begin requiring TV manufacturers to put digital receivers in their sets. The electronics industry complains that this will add $1000 to the cost of a TV, while Sinclair broadcasting counters that once production ramps up…

This is some astonishing news: According to an article posted to the Rocky Mountain IMC site, Free Speech TV, a progressive public-access and satellite based TV network will not be carried on the cable system’s access channel in its home town of Boulder, CO, even though they can provide a free satellite receiver to the…

Partytown Radio has established a Corporate Media Portal, with links to sites, information and article about the corporate media, with particular attention paid to issues regarding Low-Power FM. The whole Partytown site has grown quite a bit in the last few months, from just having a live streaming radio station. They’ve even included a stream…