By Steve Rhodes

“After 34 years as the City Colleges of Chicago’s public television station, WYCC-Channel 20 will be going off the air,” Robert Feder notes. “But it’s no surprise. The decision was prompted by the sale of its broadcast license in the FCC spectrum auction in April.”
If I recall correctly, the idea of the city selling off WYCC’s license originated with Feder; he at least lobbied for it. Which makes me sad, because WYCC offers quality public programming that I find consistently more interesting than the WTTW lineup. Let’s take a look within the confines of our “24 Hours With . . . ” series, starting Friday afternoon.

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Posted on September 22, 2017

By Tara García Mathewson/The Hechinger Report

The United States is likely to reach the goal of making sure every single public school has access to the Internet by 2020, according to EducationSuperHighway, a nonprofit focused on this milestone. But that won’t close what has come to be known as “the digital divide.”
Nearly one in four school districts still does not have sufficient bandwidth to meet the digital learning needs of students. And even before bandwidth, plenty of schools don’t have the laptops or tablets that students need to get online.
Meanwhile, wealthy districts go on purchasing the newest technologies to prepare their students for a world that increasingly runs on them.
The documentary filmmaker Rory Kennedy, who has covered addiction, nuclear radiation and the politics of the Mexican border fence, among other social issues, explores this persistent technology gap in her latest film, Without a Net: The Digital Divide in America.

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Posted on September 21, 2017

What Really Led To The Fall Of Saigon

An e-mail exchange between our very own Tim Willette and Steve Rhodes.
Tim: I read that Dan Ellsberg is not in the Burns documentary.
If that’s true . . . A 10-episode, 18-hour documentary about the war and Ellsberg isn’t in it? Maybe LBJ isn’t in it, either!

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Posted on September 20, 2017

By Jon Queally/Common Dreams

Though some jaws dropped, many laughed, and the former White House press secretary was applauded for having a “sense of humor” about the work he did for President Donald Trump, there should be nothing surprising about Sean Spicer’s on-stage appearance at Sunday night’s Emmy Awards.
And so while some jeered the Emmy’s producers for trying to make a cheap joke or “normalize” Spicer, it was clear that many didn’t find the gag particularly funny.

I’m not ready to laugh “with” Sean Spicer. I think he is an evil, opportunistic liar that hurt our country.

— Zach Braff (@zachbraff) September 18, 2017

But taking the criticism a step further, journalist Glenn Greenwald makes the point, in a post at The Intercept on Monday morning, that there is nothing shocking – and much that’s very predictable – about a man like Spicer being welcomed into the circles of the elite.

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Posted on September 19, 2017

By Allied Progress

“The FCC has formally requested additional information from Sinclair in their bid to merge with Tribune.”

FCC Presses Sinclair for Answers on Tribune Merger by Allied Progress on Scribd

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Posted on September 18, 2017

By Northwestern Children’s Practice

Keep it down.

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Posted on September 12, 2017

By S. Graham & Associates

The Chicago Tribune presents Stedman Graham’s Identity Seminar in Naperville on September 28th, from 6:30 p.m. – 9 p.m. at the Wentz Concert Hall at the Fine Arts Center at North Central College.
Identity is the foundation for thinking and growing. It is the cornerstone of social and economic development. Today, the evidence is everywhere. In no other time in history has there been a greater need for people to be leaders of their lives and claim their right as human beings, which includes the freedom to achieve their full potential.

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Posted on September 10, 2017

By Free Press

Free Press filed its reply Tuesday to last week’s Sinclair Broadcast Group merger filing at the Federal Communications Commission. Sinclair’s filing should have been an opportunity for the company to explain the supposed benefits of its merger with Tribune Media Company, but Sinclair largely used its submission to attack organizations and individuals that asked the FCC to deny the proposed deal.

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Posted on August 31, 2017

By John Light/BillMoyers.com

President Trump’s Federal Communications Commission, under chairman Ajit Pai, has been clearing the way for a merger between Sinclair Broadcasting and Tribune Media, two television companies that together own hundreds of local news stations.
Just months ago, this sort of merger would have been illegal. For years, FCC rules prevented any one owner of local news stations from reaching too many Americans, or from owning more than one station in a single community.
But Pai, who spent the day before Trump’s inauguration with Sinclair’s CEO, has been moving quickly to clear these regulations away so that Sinclair can move forward with its plans to grow larger.
Media watchdog groups are pretty certain that Sinclair will use these relaxed rules to do exactly what the rules were intended to prevent: The company’s new, nationwide network, they predict, will present a single viewpoint under the guise of local news.

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Posted on August 19, 2017

By Jessica Corbett/Common Dreams

As the New York Times published a scathing new report Monday detailing how Sinclair Broadcast Group “is ridding itself of regulation,” three ranking Democrats on relevant House of Representatives committees sent a letter to the Federal Communications Commission chairman about his agency’s alleged “preferential treatment” of the conservative-leaning local television behemoth.
In the 12-page letter sent to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, a Republican appointed by President Donald Trump, Reps. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.), Mike Doyle (D-Pa.), and Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.) rely on recent news reports to outline four ways in which the FCC, under the Trump administration, “has taken a series of swift actions that have benefitted Sinclair.”
The Democratic lawmakers outline reports that the FCC:

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Posted on August 15, 2017