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Concert Tour Takes Media Reform Fight on the Road
Billed as the "Tell Us The Truth" tour, noted musicians have joined a coalition of activists to spread the word about the threat that growing media consolidation, unfair trade and greed-based economics pose to democracy.
"With support from unions, environmental, religious and media reform groups - including the AFL-CIO, Citizens Trade Campaign, Common Cause, Free Press and the Future of Music Coalition - this tour will be the loudest, angriest, funniest and most effective challenge to corporate domination of the public discourse in recent history," the coalition says.
The 12-city, two-week concert tour was kicked off last week in Madison, Wis., as part of the first-ever National Conference on Media Reform, which drew hundreds of activists including TNG-CWA President Linda Foley.
Another participant was FCC Commissioner Michael Copps, who pushed for hearings when the Republican-led commission was steamrolling over the public interest to make corporate-friendly changes in the country's media ownership rules. The new rules would allow media giants to gobble up more TV stations and to own newspapers and TV stations in a single community, further eroding the checks and balances put in place to ensure that consumers have diverse and independent media sources.
Ignoring the public outcry, the FCC approved the changes 3-2 in June. A federal appeals court has since stayed the rules and Congress may take action to overturn them.
"I don't think there's a more important meeting taking place in America today," Copps told a packed auditorium in Madison. He and fellow Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein - the only other FCC member to vote against the rule changes - were treated like celebrities during the weekend of events.
Copps got a standing ovation when he helped kick off the musical tour, which features British singer-songwriter and political activist Billy Bragg, Tom Morello, guitarist for Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave, Lester Chambers, part of the '60s soul-rock group the Chambers Brothers, and Boots Riley, rapper with the Oakland hip-hop group the Coup.
The tour's stops include Miami on Nov. 19 as part of the opposition to the FTAA talks and New York City on Nov. 22, concluding Nov. 24 in Washington, D.C. For the full schedule see www.tellusthetruth.org.
"With support from unions, environmental, religious and media reform groups - including the AFL-CIO, Citizens Trade Campaign, Common Cause, Free Press and the Future of Music Coalition - this tour will be the loudest, angriest, funniest and most effective challenge to corporate domination of the public discourse in recent history," the coalition says.
The 12-city, two-week concert tour was kicked off last week in Madison, Wis., as part of the first-ever National Conference on Media Reform, which drew hundreds of activists including TNG-CWA President Linda Foley.
Another participant was FCC Commissioner Michael Copps, who pushed for hearings when the Republican-led commission was steamrolling over the public interest to make corporate-friendly changes in the country's media ownership rules. The new rules would allow media giants to gobble up more TV stations and to own newspapers and TV stations in a single community, further eroding the checks and balances put in place to ensure that consumers have diverse and independent media sources.
Ignoring the public outcry, the FCC approved the changes 3-2 in June. A federal appeals court has since stayed the rules and Congress may take action to overturn them.
"I don't think there's a more important meeting taking place in America today," Copps told a packed auditorium in Madison. He and fellow Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein - the only other FCC member to vote against the rule changes - were treated like celebrities during the weekend of events.
Copps got a standing ovation when he helped kick off the musical tour, which features British singer-songwriter and political activist Billy Bragg, Tom Morello, guitarist for Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave, Lester Chambers, part of the '60s soul-rock group the Chambers Brothers, and Boots Riley, rapper with the Oakland hip-hop group the Coup.
The tour's stops include Miami on Nov. 19 as part of the opposition to the FTAA talks and New York City on Nov. 22, concluding Nov. 24 in Washington, D.C. For the full schedule see www.tellusthetruth.org.