Join effort to bring media reform to WOUB

It's no secret that the commercial media are all too typically mere divisions in larger corporations, the media themselves are becoming increasingly consolidated, already under-resourced news departments are losing support, and local media across the country are reducing their direct coverage of local and regional events, as they rely on feeds from above. As a result, the range of perspectives and analysis of important events are becoming less diverse.

In this regard, consider Bill Moyers' inimitable summary of the situation, and especially his references to public media stations: "As ownership gets more and more concentrated, fewer and fewer independent sources of information have survived in the marketplace; and those few significant alternatives that do survive, such as PBS and NPR, are under growing financial and political pressure to reduce critical news content and to shift their focus in a mainstream direction, which means being more attentive to establishment views than to the bleak realities of powerlessness that shape the lives of ordinary people."

Concerned about these changes, the Athens Free Press was formed last spring to persuade WOUB to incorporate the award-winning "Democracy Now," a one-hour news and interview program, into its program schedule. "Democracy Now," which has been described as excellent or outstanding by such public media luminaries as Diane Rehm and Bill Moyers, is aired five days a week on more than 650 domestic and international stations.

The first 10 minutes or so of the program highlights breaking stories. Following the news summary, guests, many of whom don't show up on NPR or PBS, are interviewed on a range of domestic and international events and issues. The program would be available for free on a trial basis the first year.

We've been in touch with public radio stations that currently carry "Democracy Now" about their audience reaction and fund-raising experiences with the program. Eleven stations have responded, all of them describing positive audience response to their carrying "Democracy Now." We learned recently that an informal poll of members of the Association of Independents in Radio produced highly positive responses regarding "Democracy Now." In the meantime, we have been busy gathering signatures, 330 so far, on a petition to have WOUB bring "Democracy Now" to the local public radio or TV programming.

We met with WOUB managers on two occasions last summer, presenting a detailed explanation of why "Democracy Now" is needed to complement current programming. They rejected our proposal and have ignored our documented rebuttal to their decision. We followed up at the October WOUB Community Advisory Council Meeting, where four of us distributed our position documents. To date, no response from WOUB or the Council.

In other documents submitted, I challenged WOUB's assertion that "Democracy Now" does not measure up to certain journalistic standards. With respect to journalistic standards, we wonder about WOUB's own journalistic standards, when the station recently accepted a $500,000 donation from Roger Ailes to help pay for a technologically advanced newsroom. Ailes is best known for his association with the right-wing Fox News Channel as news chairman and then, since 2005, as chairman of the Fox Television Stations Group.

Additionally, my first analysis focused on the coverage of Secretary of State Colin Powell's address to the United Nations Security Council on Feb. 5, 2003, in which Powell marshaled the evidence for invading Iraq. "Democracy Now" had experts who expressed skepticism about Powell's evidence, while the guests on NPR and PBS largely accepted the evidence in favor of an invasion. I will be investigating coverage of other significant events in coming months.

Our group, Athens Free Press, will be holding a public forum to discuss these issues at the Athens Public Library on Feb. 11, beginning at 7 p.m. In addition, please join us as we again present our case at the WOUB Community Advisory Council Meeting on Feb. 19, from 10 a.m until noon, in Radio Studio A, Radio and Television Building, on the campus of Ohio University. If you have questions, please contact Bob Sheak at bobsheak@columbus.rr.com.

Bob Sheak of Athens is an Ohio University emeritus professor of sociology.