Letter from Maureen Holtz protesting to the FCC of the WICD/Sinclair Broadcasting license renewal.
_________________________________
Office of the Secretary
Federal Communications Commission
445 12th St. SW
Washington, DC 20054
RE: Station call sign: WICD (Channel 15)
City and State: Champaign, Illinois
Station facility Identification number: 25684
License renewal application file number: BMPCDT 2004 1215AAN
Modify Permit: BPCDT 19991 029AHL
I am writing this informal letter of complaint regarding the license renewal process for our "local" television station Channel 15 WICD located in the Urbana - Champaign Illinois viewing area.
I have two complaints. One, simply put, is Mark Hyman. THE POINT, shown on WICD's evening news broadcast are totally one-sided opinions, with no serious attempt to offer any alternate points of view. At every opportunity to listen to his comments, I feel compelled to turn the channel. He is obviously a tool for the current Bush administration as well as conservative viewers. I know that people in our community
requested a weekly 90-second local response to his segment, but WICDhas rejected that request. Isn't this supposed to be a local station? I now refuse to watch the night-time show and will start boycotting the advertisers to the show.
My second complaint are the dubiously named segments on "national news" and "international news. One day the canned segment on "international news" included the review of troops in Scotland by a
mascot - a penguin. Cute, but not news of any kind. Another segment included a snippet about a wife-carrying contest in German. This morning the "national news" included a story about a car that was
stolen with a cat inside. The car was returned but the thief is holdingthe cat hostage for a ransom. With disasters like Darfur, Iraq and even the forest fires burning in the center of Portugal, shouldn't we be viewing those instead? Coverage of these stories may be cheap and entertaining, but hardly news. They obscure the real issues that are crucial to our families and our communities. The media aren't telling us what's really going on in our statehouse, in Washington and around the world.
I understand that Channel 15 is meeting most legal requirements of the FCC regulations. However, we object to their resistance to respond to public concerns and their lack of local input. At this time I wish to
submit this informal letter of complaint and restate the need for a weekly 90-second local response to the Mark Hyman segment. We continue to join with fellow community members to become better informed about the impact locally of corporate media and how it has come to dominate the public interest. The Sinclair broadcasting policy enforced by WICD is not in the best interest of our local community.
The way the current laws are written, Sinclair and Channel 15 WICD appear to be operating within the law. However, by submitting an informal letter of complaint, I want to restate our position that the way in which this station is operating in our community may be meeting most FCC regulations, but WICD is also doing irrevocable harm to our local community as well as our democracy. Channel 15 has failed to
operate in the best interest of the entire community by not allowing alternative or opposing viewpoints an opportunity to be heard.
I am hopeful as the FCC reviews WICD Channel 15's License for continued operation, this letter of informal complaint will be attached as corroborating evidence that many local voices and points of view are not being included.
My family's response has been to look elsewhere for information regarding our community. We know that to be fully informed we have to find sources other than information provided by a corporate media owned
many states away from Illinois.
Please consider this informal complaint as you undertake the license renewal process of Baltimore Maryland's Sinclair-owned Channel 15 WICD's license to operate on the airways that enter the residences of viewers in the Urbana Champaign viewing area. We are hopeful that the FCC will keep in mind the public and local community's objections to this Sinclair owned station as the FCC seeks to renew the operating licenses for WICD Channel 15 television station. We look to the FCC to provide leadership and oversight on behalf of the public interest. Help us reintroduce a diversity of local voices into our "local" media andenable our democracy to prevail.
Sincerely,
Maureen Holtz
1124 N. State St.
Monticello, IL 61856
cc: WIDC Station Manager: Gary Hackler
cc: VOBA Volunteers for a Better America: Dan Brady
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