freedom of the press

I was asked if I wanted to help The Nation identify the blogosphere's influentials that could help them in one of their current campaigs, the first thought that popped into my head was, "here we go again, another one of those blogger phone calls". Yet, when I heard the name "TimeWarner" as one of the main antagonists, I knew I had to take on this project.

Earlier this year, the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) rejected a postal rate increase plan offered by the U.S. Postal Service. Instead of implementing a plan that would spread equitably the rate hikes across all bulk mail clients, they opted to implement a modified version submitted by and partial to media giant Time-Warner Inc.

The new postal increase drafted by TimeWarner-AOL and approved by the PRC favors large bulk mail users like the magazine publishing divisions of TimeWarner-AOL by increasing the rate of small independent publishers by as much as 20%. Just to put things into perspective, for a publication like The Nation, this translates into paying $500,000 extra in postage yearly and in perpetuity (or until the next postal increase comes along).

As Teresa Stark put it in Disseminate Information, Protect Democracy, "While it is understandable that Time Warner would relish the idea of making it more difficult for new competitors, there is no reason to think that it is in the interest of the American people or the market economy.

Ironically, about two years ago a coalition of organizations and netactivists created DearAOL.com after the media giant tried to impose an email “stamp” system for bulk emailers like MoveOn.org or bloggers with weekly newsletters produced by blogs like YearlyKos, BradBlog or Afronetizen. Yes, they actually tried to play post office with AOL's email service.

And it was thinking about this bit of irony that it hit me : TimeWarner has been one of the biggest enemies of the free internet (aka, net neutrality) not just so they can be free to charge whatever they want for all aspects of publishing, privacy, creativity and freedom on the internet. It's part of a larger business vision in which all publishing, recording and broadcasting in the United States is control by a handful of large (and therefore manageable) media conglomerates.

From the American Jewish Committee (AJC):

Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury, a Bangladeshi journalist and the editor of Blitz, the largest English-language weekly tabloid in Bangladesh, has faced persecution imposed by his own government for the last few years. He now faces a sedition trial for speaking out about the threats radical Islam poses in Bangladesh and, is found guilty, could face the death penalty.

On January 16, Representative Mark Kirk and Nita Lowey re-introduced a previous resolution from the 109th Congress (H.Res.64) calling on the Bangladeshi government to drop charges against Mr. Choudhury. The resolution is expected to pass the House of Representatives on Tuesday, March 13. AJC and other human rights organizations are calling on world leaders to press Bangladesh to end its campaign of persecution. Mr. Choudhury was arrested in November 2003 when he tried to attend a conference in Israel and imprisoned under extremely difficult conditions. Although he was released last year thanks to the tireless efforts of many government officials including Congressman Kirk, the Bangladesh government continues to harass Mr. Choudhury, intent on silencing him and his views.

In May 2006, AJC presented Mr. Choudhury with its Moral Courage Award recognizing his efforts to promote dialogue between Muslims and Jews and his courage to speak the truth against Islamic extremism. Unfortunately, the Bangladesh government prevented him from visiting the United States to receive the honor.