Re: Victory for Microbroadcasting

[TruthMonger <tm@dev.null>]

The federal war against Microbroadcasting should be studied by all
InfoWarriors who plan to shed their ElectroBlood defending the coming
attacks against MicroWeb free speech.

The Intenet Content Coalition (ICC) made a cheap grab at trying to form
a corporate FCC to put the InterNet media-power brokering in the hands
of those who already rule the roost overseen by the FCC. (Eliminating
the middle-man, so to speak.)
The fact of the matter is, the mainstream media is not going to have
a lot of trouble herding the majority of the sheeple into their feeding
pens, given the power, money and position that they already have, so
it is a bit tacky for them to have made an attempt to put themselves
in a position to 'enforce' standards favorable to themselves.

The difference between MicroBroadcasting and the MicroWeb/WebRings
that are being independently formed, is that MicroBroadcasting is
trying to get back what was stolen, and those on the InterNet are
trying to keep from getting what we already have, stolen in the
future.

TruthMonger
~~~~~~~~~~~



~~~~
           JUDGE WILKEN DENIES FCC MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGEMENT!!!

        National Lawyers Guild Committee on Democratic Communications

                    558 Capp Street, San Francisco 94110

                            FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

                 COURT REJECTS FCC's CONSTITUTIONAL CATCH 22

     United States District Court Judge Claudia Wilken has rejected
     another attempt by the Federal Communications Commission to
     silence Berkeley Micro Radio Broadcaster Stephen Dunifer, founder
     of Free Radio Berkeley.

     In a 13 page opinion released on November 12, 1997, Judge Wilken
     once again rejected the government's motion for an injunction to
     silence micro radio broadcasts by local radio pioneer Stephen
     Dunifer.

     In 1995, Judge Wilken rejected the government's first motion for a
     preliminary injunction against Dunifer's broadcasts. At that time
     the Court found merit in Dunifer's argument that the FCC's ban on
     low power, affordable FM broadcasting was a violation of the First
     Amendment's guarantee of free speech to all in the United States.

     In a blatant attempt to avoid facing its First Amendment
     obligations the FCC then urged Wilken to permanently enjoin
     Dunifer from Broadcasting and at the same time argued that she
     could not even consider the issue of whether its rules, which
     prevent him from getting a license, are unconstitutional. In a
     Kafkaesqe argument, the Commission argued that Wilken had
     jurisdiction to issue an injunction, but no jurisdiction to hear
     Dunifer's constitutional arguments. The government claimed that
     only the higher federal courts could consider the constitutional
     question.

     In her November 12 decision rejecting the Government's position,
     Judge Wilken pointed to the fact that the FCC had taken exactly
     the opposite position in the 1994 case of Dougan vs FCC. In that
     case, an Arizona micro radio broadcaster had appealed an FCC fine
     (for broadcasting without a license) to the 9th Circuit Federal
     Court of Appeal, and the FCC had argued that the Court of Appeal
     had no jurisdiction over the case, and that it had to be heard by
     the District Court. The Court of Appeals agreed with the FCC and
     sent the case back to the District Court.

     Judge Wilken noted that the Arizona broadcaster had raised the
     same constitutional arguments in the Court of Appeals that Dunifer
     is raising. The Court ruled that in sending all of the issues in
     the Arizona case to the District Court, the Appeals Court
     recognized that the District Court had jurisdiction over all
     aspects of the case.

     In denying the Government's motion for an injunction "without
     prejudice," Judge Wilken ordered the Government to file a further
     brief on the question of whether the unconstitutionality of the
     FCC's ban on micro radio is a valid legal defense to an injunction
     against broadcasting at low power without a license. Dunifer's
     attorneys, Louis Hiken and Allen Hopper of San Francisco, will
     have an opportunity to rebut the government's arguments on this
     point.

     In response to pressure from the commercial broadcaster's lobby,
     the National Association of Broadcasters (N.A.B.), the FCC has in
     recent months been stepping up its campaign of harassment against
     the thousands of micro radio stations now on the air in this
     country. Hiken commented "The broadcast industry is clearly afraid
     of these little community stations which are speaking truth to its
     power. In trying to do the N.A.B.�s bidding, the FCC demonstrates
     that it is nothing but an enforcement arm of the commercial
     broadcast industry and the multi-national corporations which own
     it."

     The National Lawyers Guild's Committee on Democratic
     Communications has represented the Lawyers Guild, San Francisco's
     Media Alliance, and the Women's International News Gathering
     Services as a "Friend of the Court" (Amicus) in this case. In its
     Friend of the Court brief the Lawyers Guild pointed out that FCC
     regulations make it impossible for all but the very wealthy to
     even apply for a broadcast license. This, they told the Court, is
     the equivalent of saying anyone could speak from a soap box in the
     park, but the box had to be made of gold. Guild attorney Peter
     Franck commented "In an era when Disney owns ABC, the world's
     largest defense contractor owns NBC and CNN merges with Time which
     merges with Warner, and when 'public' broadcasting is told to get
     its money from corporations, micro radio may be our last best hope
     for democracy on the air ways." He continued "Judge Wilken's
     decision is a courageous rejection of the Government's attempt to
     use a legal Catch-22 to avoid facing the fact that its ban on
     micro radio flies in the face of the Constitution."

     The legal team representing Dunifer and the Amicae are very
     pleased with Judge Wilken's reasoned and thorough decision denying
     the FCC's motion to have the case resolved without a trial on the
     merits. For almost 70 years, the FCC has catered solely to the
     interests of commercial corporate giants, through their
     mouthpiece, the National Association of Broadcasters. These are
     the pirates, who have stolen the airwaves from the American
     people, and who represent corporate interests valued at more than
     60 billion dollars. Only the Pentagon, the Silicon Valley and the
     transportation industries possess the financial wallop represented
     by the NAB and its constituents.

     Judge Wilken's decision represents a vision of what it would be
     like for the American people to be given back their own voice. The
     decision suggests the likely unconstitutionality of the entire
     regulatory structure underlying the FCC's ban on low power radio.
     It forewarns of the total failure of that agency to carry out its
     statutory obligation to regulate the airwaves in the public
     interest -- that is, in the interest of the American people,
     rather than the media monopolies that control our airwaves.

     The legal team welcomes the opportunity to have a court identify
     the real pirates of the airwaves -- not the thousands of
     microradio broadcasters who seek to communicate with the people of
     their communities, but rather the billionaire commercial interests
     that control the airwaves as if they own them. Is it General
     Electric, Westinghouse and the Disney Corporation that have the
     right to control local community radio, or is that a right that
     belongs to all of the American people, regardless of economic
     status?

     FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:

     Peter Franck, Counsel for Amicus
     415-415-995-5055
     pfranck@hbmvr.com (days)
     pfranck@a.crl.com(evs, wknds)
     http://www.368Hayes.com/nlg.cdc.html

     Alan Korn, Counsel for Amicus
     415-362-5700
     aakorn@igc.org

     Stephen Dunifer, Free Radio Berkeley
     415-644-3779
     frbspd@crl.com
     http://www.freeradio.org

     Louis Hiken
     Counsel for Stephen Dunifer
     415-575-3220
     hiken@igc.org
     http://www.368Hayes.com

     Allen Hopper
     Counsel for Stephen Dunifer
     415-575-3222
     lazlo@igc.org
     http://www.368Hayes.com

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