For Immediate Release: 8/4/2011
Contact: Bill Hodges at bostonmediareformnetwork at gmail.com or 617-971-8334

Beacon Hill Rally to Demand Congress Investigate News Corp.
Advocates say media conglomerate is "Too Big to Trust"

BOSTON - Activists from the new Boston Media Reform Network will hold a Rally to Make Fox History* in front of the State House TODAY* (8/4) *at 12 noon* to bring attention to the ongoing "culture of corruption" at News Corp and to urge Congress and the FCC to revoke News Corp.'s broadcast licenses. Speeches will start at 12:15 p.m., and will be followed by a picket in front of Fox 25's Beacon Hill branch studio nearby at about 12:45 p.m.

News Corp. has spent millions of dollars (1) buying influence in American politics and thousands of hours of airtime (2) tilting the playing field in favor of its right-wing political agenda and settling allegations that it had hacked into the database of a US competitor (3) out of court. Now the ongoing News Corp. scandal in the UK - sparked by the exposure of News Corp.'s practice of illegally hacking people's cell phones and bribing police - is spilling over to the US. The Boston Media Reform Network therefore believes that the American public has good reason to protect ourselves from News Corp.'s criminal activity at home and abroad, and hold it accountable to the law.

"The developing News Corp. scandal is a teachable moment for those of us concerned about the perils of media consolidation," says Jason Pramas, an organizer with the Boston Media Reform Network and editor/publisher of the online news weekly Open Media Boston. "Reform advocates have been warning about the negative social, cultural and political consequences of allowing an ever-smaller number of conglomerates to buy up the vast majority of available media properties for the last 30 years. News Corp. has repeatedly crossed the boundary separating partisan politics from outright criminality; so it's time for Congress to take action in the public interest. That's why the Boston Media Reform Network supports Congressional hearings to expose News Corp.'s criminal activities. Because we think that News Corp is too big to trust."

The Boston Media Reform Network is a grassroots advocacy organization formed to educate, inform and promote legislative policy and public practice that supports human rights, social justice and democratic values in the media. BMRN believes in a media that reflects society as a whole and challenges a culture that places profit over social needs.

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1
http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.php?cycle=A&type=P&id=D000000227

2
http://dropfox.com/topics/political

3
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/18/business/media/for-news-corporation-tr...