VANCOUVER – An new activist organization is trying to get everyday Canadians to care enough about their media to get involved.
Canadians for Democratic Media said today it is urging people to "send a message to the CRTC calling for policies that limit concentrated and cross-ownership in the media and support public and community-based media," says its press release.
It is also offering an online form letter supporters may sign individually and have automatically sent to the Commission prior to July 18th, which is the deadline for submissions on the CRTC’s diversity of voices proceeding. So, there could be a veritable avalanche of submissions on this proceeding, depending on how wide the group can disseminate its message.
“We are in the middle of a major wave of private media consolidation in this country and we are very worried about what it means for access to a diversity of made-in-Canada news and entertainment in cities and towns across the country,” said Steve Anderson, co-ordinator of Canadians for Democratic Media, in the press release, referring to the sale of CHUM and the proposed acquisitions of Standard Broadcasting and Alliance Atlantis by Astral Media and CanWest Global/Goldman Sachs, respectively.
“Recent history suggests we are headed for even less local coverage and less original programming.
“It is really important that the CRTC hear from more people than simply the lawyers who represent the media companies,” Anderson added. “This is about how private companies use the public airwaves. Canadians deserve choice in what we watch on television, hear on the radio, read in our local newspapers and see on the Internet. Without a range of media voices, we get less information and fewer points of view on the events that shape our lives.”
