Oct
21
2011
A coalition of media reform groups in Los Angeles are protesting today during a shareholders meeting of Fox News and Rupert Murdoch owned News Corporation starting at 9AM outside Fox Studios at 10201 W. Pico Blvd. in Century City. The protest is in reaction to News Corp. business practices exposed by this summer’s illegal phone hacking scandal, and new allegations of one newspaper inflating its subscriptions numbers. The Guardian recently reported a Dow Jones partner, Executive Learning Partnership, allegedly purchased thousands of newspapers from Wall Street Journal Europe while at the same time submitting content suggestions to the paper. The organizers of today’s protest at Fox Studios want to draw attention to corporate accountability as corrupt behavior continues at News Corp. They’ve issued a call to “Occupy Fox Studios” and join organizations like Good Jobs LA, Brave New Foundation, Common Cause, Free Press, and the Media Action Center. Meanwhile the Occupy LA encampment continues to expand as a local Jewish clergy and activists participated in erecting structures for the seven day Jewish festival of Sukkot. The campsite at city hall is still working cooperatively with the city despite the claim by city hall that costs related to demonstration have reached around $45,000. The city also claims that there is an unknown amount of damage done to the lawn that official’s state could reach as much as $400,000. Protesters have downplayed the cost of making the necessary repairs to the lawn and have even suggested that they would not mind up keeping the lawn themselves. An organizer for Occupy LA, Mario Brito, has suggested that it might be necessary to expand the camp to Fletcher Bowron Square.
GUEST: Mario Brito, member of the General Assembly at Occupy LA
