Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week sure to bring response

The UW College Republicans this week are taking part in the national event, "Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week." The gimmick will be put on to expose what supporters call "the two Big Lies of the political left: that George Bush created the War on Terror and that global warming is a greater danger to Americans than the terrorist threat."

Among the highlights touted by the event's Web site include teach-ins on the plight of Muslim women and a lecture by conservative talk-show host Michael Medved.

Others on campus have promised a response, claiming that the concept is inherently racist and plays upon the stereotype that all Muslims support terrorist ideology.

ASUW senator Hala Dillsi is organizing protests to multiple goings-on associated with the event, including a movie showing at Smith Hall Wednesday evening and the Medved lecture, which is Thursday at 7 p.m. at Kane Hall.

"We are not trying to shut down speakers," Dillsi said, "but to educate on the fear that they propagate."

Dillsi, along with other members of the Muslim Student Association-UW, is asking students opposed to the concept to wear green shirts and armbands on these days in solidarity with the Arab and Muslim community.

An email to Tom Walker, president of the UW College Republicans, was not returned in time for this article.

The claim that global warming's threat level is a lie of the political left was somewhat refuted by WMD expert Hans Blix, not typically considered a member of either political faction, in his lecture at Kane Hall last week, when he said, "Global warming is a tremendous threat and, to me, long term, perhaps even more serious than the weapons of mass destruction."

Seattle may be final frontier for FCC decision

Seattle residents may get the honor of hosting the final public hearing before the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) moves forward with its plan to allow more consolidated ownership of media outlets, if a schedule proposed by the commission's chairman last week holds up.

Law prohibits a company from owning a newspaper and a television station in the same city. The changes sought by the FCC would eliminate this, as well as other rules limiting media consolidation.

Passage of the new rules would be advantageous for large media conglomerates, notably the Tribune Company (owner of several of the nation's top newspapers and television networks), which is currently the target of a buyout that would result in a breach of the existing rules. More generally, it would make advertising and programming more efficient for the companies that benefit.

Some news companies are not as excited. Seattle Times publisher Frank Blethen has expressed fears that, if the new rules are approved, rival Hearst Corp. (owner of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer) would "leverage their extraordinary resources" to pick up a television station in town in an effort to "undermine our business."

Most concerned are media watchdog groups, who contest that media conglomerations already greatly limit the public's access to news and information. Free Press, a national, nonpartisan organization working to reform the media, has created a Web site, www.stopbigmedia.com, which claims that Big Media fails local communities, ignores diversity and is bad for democracy. According to the site, "media consolidation means fewer sources of news, opinion and information. Instead of hard-hitting critical journalism, Big Media gives us a junk diet of celebrity gossip and sensationalism."

The hearing schedule, proposed on Thursday by FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, includes a Nov. 2 public hearing in Seattle, and culminates with an FCC vote on the rules Dec. 18. The Seattle hearing would be the last in a small handful of public hearings across the country and the only such official opportunity for Northwest residents to weigh in on the measure.

Last November, more than 400 Seattle residents joined UW President Mark Emmert and two Democratic FCC commissioners in denouncing what was then a review of its media consolidation rules, the predecessor to the new proposal. Said commissioner Michael Copps: "We can either stand up and make a difference or sit back and watch local media be gutted." For those opposed to the measure, the time to stand is now.