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Submitted by JessicaDuda on Wed, 2007-04-18 22:07.
Media Giraffe Project Announcements
The Nation reported yesterday that this postal rate increase would raise their annual costs by $500,000. They too cited McChesney's CommonDreams article. Incidentally, the US Postal Service is also mentioned in the US Constitution. Paul Starr concludes in The Creation of the Media that the US Postal Service subsidies for news media played a large role in continential unity (aka democracy) compared to the British system that impaired the "popular" press with the Stamp Tax of 1712. Jessica DudaAmerican wrote: -----To:: Bill Densmore <>Sent by:: 04/16/2007 06:37PMSubject: [MGP-Forum Announce] McChesney warns new postal rates disastrous to small publicationsSmall publications could be forced out of business by proposed postal rates which favor larger magazines, according to an email being circulated by Robert McChesney, the University of Illinois media scholar who co-founded the advocacy group FreePress.net.Here is the text. While I don't know if his analysis of the effect of the rates is correct, certainly postal rates have played a pivotal role in our democracy since the 18th century, so changes should be watched carefully. Are they?-- bill-------------------------------------Bill Densmore, director/editorThe Media Giraffe Project---------- Forwarded message ----------Date: Mon, 16 Apr 2007 15:10:00 -0500From: Bob McChesney <>To:: Post Office to First Amendment: Drop Dead 5Dear friend, relative, or acquaintance of Bob McChesney, The news media are covering the tragic murders in Virginia this morning,and as they do an extraordinarily significant story is slipping throughthe cracks. On very rare occasions I send a message to everyone in my email addressbook on an issue that I find of staggering importance and urgency. (Myaddress book includes pretty much everyone who emails me in one form oranother, and I apologize if you get this message more than once.) This isone of those times. There is a major crisis in our media taking place right now; it isgetting almost no attention and unless we act very soon the consequencesfor our society could well be disastrous. And it will only take placebecause it is being done without any public awareness or participation;it goes directly against the very foundations of freedom of the press inthe entirety of American history. The U.S. Post Office is in the process of implementing a radicalreformulation of its rates for magazines, such that smaller periodicalswill 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 smallerpublications to get launched and to survive. The whole idea has been touse the postal rates to keep publishing as competitive and wide open aspossible. This bedrock principle was put in place by James Madison andThomas Jefferson. They considered it mandatory to create the presssystem, the Fourth Estate necessary for self-government.It was postal policy that converted the free press clause in the FirstAmendment from an abstract principle into a living breathing reality forAmericans. And it has served that role throughout our history.What the Post Office is now proposing goes directly against 215 years ofpostal policy. The Post Office is in the process of implementing aradical reformulation of its mailing rates for magazines. Under the plan,smaller periodicals will be hit with a much larger increase than the bigmagazines, as much as 30 percent. Some of the largest circulationmagazines will face hikes of less than 10 percent. The new rates, which go into effect on July 15, were developed with nopublic involvement or congressional oversight, and the increased costscould damage hundreds, even thousands, of smaller publications, possiblyputting many out of business. This includes nearly every politicaljournal in the nation. These are the magazines that often provide themost original journalism and analysis. These are the magazines thatprovide 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, isimplement a rate structure that gives the best prices to the biggestpublishers, hence letting them lock in their market position and lessenthe threat of any new competition. The new rates could make it almostimpossible to launch a new magazine, unless it is spawned by a hugeconglomerate. Not surprisingly, the new scheme was drafted by Time Warner, the largestmagazine publisher in the nation. All evidence available suggests thebureaucrats responsible have never considered the implications of theirdraconian reforms for small and independent publishers, or for citizenswho 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 takesa publishing company several hundred thousand dollars to even participatein these rate cases. Some large corporations spend millions to influencethese rates.? Little guys, and the general public who depend upon thesemagazines, are not at the table when the deal is being made. The genius of the postal rate structure over the past 215 years was thatit did not favor a particular viewpoint; it simply made it easier forsmaller magazines to be launched and to survive. That is why thepublications opposing the secretive Post Office rate hikes cross thepolitical 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 marketsthat benefit all Americans. This reform will have disastrous effects forall small and mid-sized publications, be they on politics, music, sportsor gardening. This process was conducted with such little publicity and pitched only atthe dominant players that we only learned about it a few weeks ago and itis very late in the game. But there is something you can do. Please go towww.stoppostalratehikes.com and sign the letter to the Postal Boardprotesting the new rate system and demanding a congressional hearingbefore any radical changes are made. The deadline for comments is April23. I know many of you are connected to publications that go through themail, or libraries and bookstores that pay for subscriptions to magazinesand periodicals. If you fall in these categories, it is imperative youget everyone connected to your magazine or operation to go towww.stoppostalratehikes.com. We do not have a moment to lose. If everyone who reads this emailresponds at www.stoppostalratehikes.com, and then sends it along to theirfriends urging them to do the same, we can win. If there is one thing wehave learned at Free Press over the past few years, it is that if enoughpeople raise hell, we can force politicians to do the right thing. Thisis a time for serious hell-raising. And to my friends from outside the United States, I apologize forcluttering your inbox. If you read this far, we can use your moralsupport. >From the bottom of my heart, thanks. BobRobert W. McChesneywww.mediaproblem.orgwww.freepress.netDepartment of CommunicationUniversity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign_______________________________________________Post mailinghttp://mgp-forum.org/mailman/listinfo/post_mgp-forum.org McChesney warns new postal rates disastrous to small publicationSubmitted by Lisa Williams on Fri, 2007-08-17 21:50.It is also, in my view, part of a wave of changes that will disempower -- Net Neutrality: killing it means small websites are slower than big Lock down the net, crush competition for radio, crush print competition. Worse: They can't win in the market, so they win by gaming government. Anybody who participates in pushing these "reforms" that benefit only Lisa tom stites wrote: |
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McChesney warns new postal rates disastrous to small publication
Submitted by tstites on Fri, 2007-08-17 21:50.Re: [MGP-Forum Announce] McChesney warns new postal rates disastrous to small publications
Thanks to Bill’s heads-up I checked with the printer for the magazine I publish (circulation 128,000) and our rep confirmed that the potential increase looks to be as bad as Bob McChesney’s piece says. This is truly terrible news for small magazines. Hopefully not-for-profit and other small publishers — and the printers who serve them and thus are also threatened by this — can find a way to join in the chorus that FreePress is orchestrating.
Tom
--
Tom Stites
Publisher, UU World magazine
Unitarian Universalist Association
25 Beacon Street
Boston, MA 02108
617-948-6504
617-742-7025 (fax)
www.uuworld.org
www.uua.org
From: Jessica Duda <>
Date: Wed, 18 Apr 2007 16:33:27 -0400
To: Bill Densmore <>
Cc: <>
Subject: Re: [MGP-Forum Announce] McChesney warns new postal rates disastrous to small publications
The Nation reported yesterday that this postal rate increase would raise their annual costs by $500,000. They too cited McChesney's CommonDreams article.
Incidentally, the US Postal Service is also mentioned in the US Constitution. Paul Starr concludes in The Creation of the Media that the US Postal Service subsidies for news media played a large role in continential unity (aka democracy) compared to the British system that impaired the "popular" press with the Stamp Tax of 1712.
Jessica Duda
American University
wrote: -----
To:
From: Bill Densmore <>
Sent by:
Date: 04/16/2007 06:37PM
Subject: [MGP-Forum Announce] McChesney warns new postal rates disastrous to small publications
Small publications could be forced out of business by proposed postal
rates which favor larger magazines, according to an email being
circulated by Robert McChesney, the University of Illinois media scholar
who co-founded the advocacy group FreePress.net.
Here is the text. While I don't know if his analysis of the effect of the
rates is correct, certainly postal rates have played a pivotal role in our
democracy since the 18th century, so changes should be watched carefully.
Are they?
-- bill
-------------------------------------
Bill Densmore, director/editor
The Media Giraffe Project
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 16 Apr 2007 15:10:00 -0500
From: Bob McChesney <>
To:
Subject: Post Office to First Amendment: Drop Dead 5
Dear friend, relative, or acquaintance of Bob 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