Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2007 15:14:38 +0000
From: jumbrella <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [umbrellanewsheet] Help Save Small Magazines
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Help Save Small Magazines
by Robert Mcchesney -
The news media are covering the tragic murders in Virginia this
morning, and as they do an extraordinarily significant story is
slipping through the cracks.
On very rare occasions I send a message to everyone in my email
address book on an issue that I find of staggering importance and
urgency. (My address book includes pretty much everyone who emails
me in one form or another, and I apologize if you get this message
more than once.) This is one of those times.
There is a major crisis in our media taking place right now; it is
getting almost no attention and unless we act very soon the
consequences for our society could well be disastrous. And it will
only take place because it is being done without any public
awareness or participation; it goes directly against the very
foundations of freedom of the press in the entirety of American history.
The U.S. Post Office is in the process of implementing a radical
reformulation of its rates for magazines, such that smaller
periodicals will be hit with a much much larger increase than the
largest magazines.
Because the Post Office is a monopoly, and because magazines must
use it, the postal rates always have been skewed to make it cheaper
for smaller publications to get launched and to survive. The whole
idea has been to use the postal rates to keep publishing as
competitive and wide open as possible. This bedrock principle was
put in place by James Madison and Thomas Jefferson. They considered
it mandatory to create the press system, the Fourth Estate necessary
for self-government.
It was postal policy that converted the free press clause in the
First Amendment from an abstract principle into a living breathing
reality for Americans. And it has served that role throughout our history.
What the Post Office is now proposing goes directly against 215
years of postal policy. The Post Office is in the process of
implementing a radical reformulation of its mailing rates for
magazines. Under the plan, smaller periodicals will be hit with a
much larger increase than the big magazines, as much as 30 percent.
Some of the largest circulation magazines will face hikes of less
than 10 percent.
The new rates, which go into effect on July 15, were developed with
no public involvement or congressional oversight, and the increased
costs could damage hundreds, even thousands, of smaller
publications, possibly putting many out of business. This includes
nearly every political journal in the nation. These are the
magazines that often provide the most original journalism and
analysis. These are the magazines that provide much of the content
on Common Dreams. We desperately need them.
What the Post Office is planning to do now, in the dark of night, is
implement a rate structure that gives the best prices to the biggest
publishers, hence letting them lock in their market position and
lessen the threat of any new competition. The new rates could make
it almost impossible to launch a new magazine, unless it is spawned
by a huge conglomerate.
Not surprisingly, the new scheme was drafted by Time Warner, the
largest magazine publisher in the nation. All evidence available
suggests the bureaucrats responsible have never considered the
implications of their draconian reforms for small and independent
publishers, or for citizens who depend upon a free press.
The corruption and sleaziness of this process is difficult to
exaggerate. As one lawyer who works for a large magazine publisher
admits, It takes a publishing company several hundred thousand
dollars to even participate in these rate cases. Some large
corporations spend millions to influence these rates. Little guys,
and the general public who depend upon these magazines, are not at
the table when the deal is being made.
The genius of the postal rate structure over the past 215 years was
that it did not favor a particular viewpoint; it simply made it
easier for smaller magazines to be launched and to survive. That is
why the publications opposing the secretive Post Office rate hikes
cross the political spectrum. This is not a left-wing issue or a
right-wing issue, it is a democracy issue. And it is about having
competitive media markets that benefit all Americans. This reform
will have disastrous effects for all small and mid-sized
publications, be they on politics, music, sports or gardening.
This process was conducted with such little publicity and pitched
only at the dominant players that we only learned about it a few
weeks ago and it is very late in the game. But there is something
you can do. Please go to www.stoppostalratehikes.com and sign the
letter to the Postal Board protesting the new rate system and
demanding a congressional hearing before any radical changes are
made. The deadline for comments is April 23.
I know many of you are connected to publications that go through the
mail, or libraries and bookstores that pay for subscriptions to
magazines and periodicals. If you fall in these categories, it is
imperative you get everyone connected to your magazine or operation
to go to www.stoppostalratehikes.com.
We do not have a moment to lose. If everyone who reads this email
responds at www.stoppostalratehikes.com , and then sends it along to
their friends urging them to do the same, we can win. If there is
one thing we have learned at Free Press over the past few years, it
is that if enough people raise hell, we can force politicians to do
the right thing. This is a time for serious hell-raising.
And to my friends from outside the United States, I apologize for
cluttering your inbox. If you read this far, we can use your moral support.
From the bottom of my heart, thanks.
Bob
Robert W. Mcchesney www.mediaproblem.org www.freepress.net
Department of Communication University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
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