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