http://zmagsite.zmag.org/curTOC.htm
"
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the plan the USPS adopted was largely written by Time Warner Inc., the world’s largest media conglomerate.
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McChesney also points out that the increases are a "radical reformulation" which "goes directly against 215 years of postal policy." Postal discounts for periodicals had been promoted by early U.S. leaders such as Thomas Jefferson and James Madison to allow the population "full information of their affairs," specifically intended for small political publications to "penetrate the whole mass of the people." Even Federalist Alexander Hamilton (as a fiscally conservative Treasury Secretary) conceded that such rate discounts were necessary for the good of the country.
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These new rates will have grave consequences for disseminating the very type of information our founding fathers strove to protect and foster when they first established the public postal service." According to a study by McGraw Hill cited in the letter, "Some small magazines will no doubt go out of business. Some will be forced to produce a lesser product to pay for these increases."
Though the public comment period has passed, public outcry against the plan has been growing and is having some effect. Implementation of the new fee structure has been delayed from May until July 15, and a "Stamp Out The Rate Hikes" campaign is underway to generate further public opposition through letters and other actions.
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http://zmagsite.zmag.org/curTOC.htm
http://action.freepress.net/freepress/postal_explanation.html
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Our nation's founders understood the First Amendment would be worth little without a postal system that encouraged broad public participation in America's "marketplace of ideas."
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President George Washington spoke out for free postage for newspapers through the mail, and Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton -- no proponent of government deficit -- conceded that incentives were necessary to spawn a viable press.
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Our free press did not happen magically; it was built on the foundation of postal policies that encouraged small publications and dissident ideas to spout and flourish.
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the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) rejected a postal rate increase plan offered by the U.S. Postal Service. Instead they opted to implement a modified version of an extraordinarily complicated plan submitted by media giant Time Warner.
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the matter was so complicated and unreported that the general public played no role whatsoever, and publications that could not afford significant lobbying and lawyer fees faced high barriers to effective participation.
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We all lose if the media system loses numerous small publications due to massive postal rate hikes and if it becomes cost prohibitive for new magazines to be launched in the future.
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The Time Warner plan proposed higher costs for small publishers and discounts for big publishers. The Time Warner plan is so complex that many publications are still unclear what their rate hikes will be if implemented; those smaller publications that have been able to do the math are finding shocking increases on tap, as high as 25-30 percent.
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The practical result of this move is not only the decline of a democratic mission, but a rate shock for small and medium size magazines even as big publishers are getting a break.
This Is a Battle for the Internet, too
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Much of the material on the web sites people visit that covers public affairs is generated by these print publications. Much of the material bloggers address originates in these print publications.
If these publications are forced to slash their editorial budgets -- or even go out of business --to pay the massive postal rate increases brought on by the Time Warner plan, it will shrink the range and quality of material available on the Internet.
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If the print publications do not exist, these stories do not get written.
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It is imperative that Congress, which is ultimately responsible, intervene to protect the postal subsidy for small publications that is the foundation for the free press in the United States.
And Congress must intervene quickly to see that the July 15 rate hike does not have the unintended consequence of severely punishing countless small and medium-sized publications, perhaps driving hundreds out of business.
Congress must now step in to protect smaller media from these unfair rate hikes.
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Stop the Rate Hikes, Stand Up for Independent Media:
For individuals: Send a Letter to Congress and the Postal Service
For publications: Sign the Letter to the Postal Board of Governors
For academics: Join Other Professors Who Support This Campaign
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http://action.freepress.net/freepress/postal_explanation.html-- Mark Frankenberg
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