A Chicago Media Activist Takes On Springfield

Mitchell Szczepanczyk, May 22, 2007

On Wednesday, April 18, I boarded a chartered bus with about 40 friends. We travelled from Chicago to Springfield, Illinois to lobby against a controversial Illinois state bill (House Bill 1500) which, if passed, would decimate public access television and seriously threaten rights-of-way of local communities across the state.

The bill is being promoted heavily by area phone companies (most notably AT&T), who want to set up their version of cable television. However,  they don't want to have to pay for cable public services like public access cable channels, nor do they want to acknowledge negotiating authority to local communities. Just ask a number of Chicago suburbs which are being sued by AT&T for asserting that authority.

The major phone companies are pushing for what are termed "state video franchises". Rather than negotiate with each individual community  where cable TV would be brought in, as is done now, phone companies would negotiate just once, with the state. This, they claim, is more "efficient" -- but the likely effect is that local communities would have far less control over cable policies and money for community services.

This is one big reason why municipalities and mayors' organizations across Illinois oppose the bill--including the Chicago City Council, which is considering a resolution against the bill.

I've been involved in political activism for years, and yet I've never had face-to-face interaction with real, live politicians before this trip. I have had tons of face-to-face interaction with people and other political activists, explaining issues and advocating, so this interaction with legislators felt familiar to me. I personally met with three Illinois House representatives: John Fritchey (11th District); Julie Hamos (18th District); and Kevin Joyce (35th District). With Fritchey and Hamos I didn't have to do any convincing, or even explain much about my position. They seemed to be very aware of the issues and quite concerned; I hope that I helped by bringing my own perspective into the matter. The third representative, Joyce, admitted that he didn't know too much about the issue, but said he was grateful that the matter was brought to his attention.

The phone companies and their "astroturf" (fake grassroots) groups didn't appear that day--at least, I didn't see them. Maybe they were cleverly disguised as potted plants or something. In any event, a committee hearing about House Bill 1500, originally scheduled for April 18 when we were in Springfield, was postponed at the last moment because of a delay due to new language introduced into the bill. (The postponed hearing was held on April 25. Additional work is underway on the new language.)

My hope is that our visible presence in Springfield--the faces and stories of real people--will help to make a difference in the crafting of state media policy. Fortunately, this field of policy is still very much up for grabs, so there's time to get involved. To find out how, check out the website of the Keep Us Connected coalition.

Comments

[jessica]

right on.