Forum Post: Recieved interesting E-Mail about reforming the Press. What do you think?
Posted 11 years ago on Jan. 23, 2013, 3:24 p.m. EST by DKAtoday
(33802)
from Coon Rapids, MN
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
I'm writing to personally invite you to join me at the National Conference for Media Reform in Denver on April 5–7, 2013.
If you care about the future of the media, technology and our democracy, I need you to be there.
2013 will be a turning point in the fight for better media. What happens this year will reshape the future of the Internet, journalism, free speech and access to communications. And with your help, the public will have a say in what happens.
We Can't Win Without You: Join Me in Denver
We're in the middle of a crucial struggle over who owns the media and how much of it will be controlled by a few giant companies. Major court rulings are expected soon on whether the Federal Communications Commission will have the power to protect the open Internet. Critical decisions will be made about the future of public media, journalism, broadband, privacy and so much more.
The second Obama administration will introduce new players and opportunities. But our opponents are readying their attack on the public interest, trying to strip away the most basic safeguards, to seize more control over how you communicate and to keep Washington in their pockets.
The National Conference for Media Reform is where we fight back. It's where we demonstrate the depth, diversity and determination of the public opposition to media moguls and corrupt policymakers. It's where we celebrate our many wins and strategize for the bigger challenges — and future victories — that lie ahead. It's where we imagine what our media system could be.
Join Me in Denver for the Best Conference Ever
There's nothing like the National Conference for Media Reform. Nowhere else will you find so many people working so passionately on the issues at the intersection of media, technology and democracy. The sessions are packed and interactive. The energy in the room is palpable. The parties are a blast.
Our fantastic program is taking shape and the lineup of speakers — including Lost star Evangeline Lilly, Democracy Now!’s Amy Goodman, Upworthy co-founder Eli Pariser, poet and performer Staceyann Chin and former White House technology adviser Susan Crawford — is growing every day.
And better still, if you sign up by Jan. 30, you can register for the entire conference at a special discounted rate. For all we have in store, you cannot beat this price.
Register today to get the best deal.
Hope to see you in April!
Best,
Craig Aaron President and CEO Free Press www.conference.freepress.net
Free Press is a nonpartisan organization building a nationwide movement for media that serve the public interest. Learn more at www.freepress.net.
Dear Minneapolis,
I'm Mark Mapes, and I live not far from you. I started a petition on MoveOn.org urging our local public television station, KTCA, to ensure that the documentary "Citizen Koch"—which exposes the billionare Koch Brothers who helped launch the Tea Party—gets shown to the public.
Now that Tea Party Republicans have shut down the government, it's more important than ever that we expose the Tea Party and its funders.
We need "Citizen Koch" on the air in Minneapolis. Will you sign the petition I created urging KTCA to take action?
Click here to sign the petition I started on MoveOn.org urging KTCA to make sure "Citizen Koch" is aired in Minneapolis, and then pass it along to your friends.
The petition I created as part of a massive joint-organizing campaign launched by the organizations MoveOn.org and Working Families, says: Please help America defeat censorship by the conservative American wealthy class. Please air "Citizen Koch."
You probably haven't seen the film "Citizen Koch," which was created to show on public television. That's because it was yanked out of fear of upsetting David Koch, one of the extreme-right-wing billionaire Koch brothers, who was instrumental in funding the Tea Party. He's also donated millions to public television stations.
Working Families and MoveOn members delivered 350,000 signatures to public television's flagship station in New York City, urging a national broadcast of the film "Citizen Koch."
But they still haven't responded. To ratchet up the pressure, I, and hundreds of other Working Families activists, have taken the fight to our local stations by starting our own petitions.
Click here to sign the petition I started on MoveOn.org urging KTCA to make sure "Citizen Koch" is aired in Minneapolis, and then pass it along to your friends.
Thanks!
–Mark Mapes
This petition was created on MoveOn's online petition site, where anyone can start their own online petitions. Mark Mapes and the organization Working Families didn't pay us to send this email—we never rent or sell the MoveOn.org list.
I added:
Air the documentary Citizen Koch. Public television pulling this documentary looks to be unduly influenced by Koch money - which would mean that your status would be questionable as being public education. If you are bought - then - you are bought. Prove it otherwise and show the documentary.
aAHHhahahaha good one - truth in advertizing:
Some of the worst energy companies are out to kill solar and renewable energy by any means necessary. So we made an ad calling them out. Now they're trying to take our ad off the air.
One of the most promising renewable energy initiatives in all of the United States is the "Million Solar Roofs" project in California - and it has the potential to spread to ALL 50 states. No wonder some of the worst industry lobbyists are teaming up to kill it before it spreads - and their first misinformation campaign has been an ALEC-style attack on the Latino Caucus in California.
So we teamed up with our friends at Presente to make an amazing satirical ad calling Big Energy out - and when it got local news coverage on ABC, NBC and CBS stations, they promptly sent their team of lawyers our way.
Too bad: because if we raise just $3000, we can make strategic ad buys that will piss off the big energy companies and protect renewable energy nationwide.
Help us put our awesome ad calling out the worst energy companies on the air NOW.
To fight global warming, we need to immensely expand renewable energy - and the "Million Solar Roofs" initiative in California has done just that, with the cost of solar projects plummeting by a third, and rooftop solar installations in low-income communities increasing by a staggering 364%.
But the big utility companies don't like rooftop solar spreading to all 50 states - so they are throwing their dirty money at the Latino Caucus in the California state legislature, hoping to financially pressure them as a voting bloc.
Power company Southern California Edison has already served us with a Cease and Desist letter to try and silence us. But their strong-arm tactics have only made us louder.
We need your help to raise $3000 to buy airtime in the markets they serve, and make real history.
We all deserve the economic opportunities and independence that the rooftop solar revolution creates. Join us and Presente in standing in solidarity with Latino communities to save rooftop solar:
Help us take this critical fight directly to the big polluters that are trying to kill clean energy.
Thanks for all you do to make this world, and California, a better place.
Sincerely,
John Sellers, The Other 98%
The Other 98% is making democracy work for the rest of us.
BTW - TWEET
DKAtoday @DKAtoday
aAHHhahahaha good one - truth in advertizing: http://salsa.wiredforchange.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=LY5FubfCQ3XprsspdIV32jEpV9q%2BeZGR …
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Hell Yes - is Right!!!
Rush Limbaugh booted from station - traded in for rock music - hell to the yes! by Leslie Salzillo
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Watch ex-Congressman leave everyone speechless on Meet the Press by Egberto Willies
Did you know that David Koch, who along with his brother Charles has spent millions on climate change denial, currently sits on the Board of Trustees at Boston’s PBS affiliate, WGBH?
It’s hard to believe, but the nation’s biggest financial backer of right-wing causes helps oversee the station that brings us educational classics like Frontline and NOVA. Until earlier this year, Koch was also on the board of New York’s PBS affiliate, WNET, but he resigned after a New Yorker exposé uncovered the embarrassing revelation that WNET staff refused to air a documentary critical of the Koch brothers, fearing that doing so would jeopardize a major planned contribution from David Koch.
The WNET episode was a disturbing example of how even the presence of someone like Koch can lead to dangerous self-censorship in our public television stations. We have no idea if the same kind of self-censorship is happening at WGBH. The station insists that there are strong firewalls to prevent that sort of thing from happening. Until recently, so did WNET.
But behind the very real possibility that Koch’s presence affects WGBH’s content is an even larger question for WGBH and its members: Why should it be acceptable for a radical climate-denier like David Koch to be on the board of a well-respected institution like WGBH, which is dedicated to educating the public?
The answer is simple: it shouldn’t be acceptable.
The world is already feeling the painful impacts of climate disasters like Superstorm Sandy and this summer’s wildfires. It’s time for important societal institutions like WGBH to draw a line and say that lying to the American public about the reality of climate change is unacceptable, and we will not be associated with it.
The New Yorker piece and Koch’s resignation from the WNET board have created a major opening to reconsider the relationship between public institutions and climate deniers like Koch. That’s why Forecast the Facts members are seizing this opening and mobilizing to get Koch off WGBH's board. The first step is to gather as many petition signatures as possible to deliver to the full Board of Trustees at their October 9th meeting.
Click here to add your voice and tell WGBH’s board to remove David Koch!
David Koch and his brother have donated over $67 million to climate denial front groups dedicated to intentionally misleading the public on climate change! That’s not to mention the numerous other radical right-wing causes Koch supports, including (amazingly) efforts to strip PBS of its public funding. By allowing Koch to hold the prestigious position on the board, WGBH is legitimizing Koch’s actions as acceptable, even though they stand in direct opposition to WGBH’s mission to enrich “people’s lives through programs and services that educate […]”.
Removing Koch from the WGBH board would not be without serious budgetary implications. Over the years, David Koch has donated $23 million to public broadcasting—a chunk of which has gone directly to WGBH’s award-winning science program NOVA. If Koch leaves the board, it will put this funding at risk. But Koch’s climate denial has put our world at risk. It’s time for WGBH’s leadership to do the right thing and to truly stand up for public education by removing David Koch from their board.
Already this year, Forecast the Facts members helped prevent the Koch brothers from buying the Tribune newspaper empire. Now, we know we have the power to protect the media from them. By signing the petition, you can help build that power and encourage WGBH stand for what they believe in.
Sign the petition to remove climate-denier David Koch from WGBH’s Board of Trustees.
Factually yours,
Emily, Brad, Daniel, and the rest of the Forecast the Facts team
MORE INFORMATION
“A Word from Our Sponsor: Public Television’s Attempts to Placate David Koch,” The New Yorker, 6-27-2013 http://act.forecastthefacts.org/go/157?t=6&akid=195.92259.iVFYLn
“Could David Koch Be Calling the Shots for PBS’s NOVA?,” The New York Observer, 9-02-2010 http://act.forecastthefacts.org/go/345?t=8&akid=195.92259.iVFYLn
“Koch Industries: Secretly Funding the Climate Denial Machine”, GreenPeace, http://act.forecastthefacts.org/go/153?t=10&akid=195.92259.iVFYLn
“McDonell Correctly Vetoes PBS Funding,” Americans for Prosperity 5-05-2011 http://act.forecastthefacts.org/go/409?t=12&akid=195.92259.iVFYLn
“Trust but Verify,” PBS Ombudsman 9-13-2010 http://act.forecastthefacts.org/go/410?t=14&akid=195.92259.iVFYLn
“David Koch and PBS: The Odd Couple,” PBS Ombudsman 5-25-2013 http://act.forecastthefacts.org/go/411?t=16&akid=195.92259.iVFYLn
“Our Mission," WGBH http://act.forecastthefacts.org/go/412?t=18&akid=195.92259.iVFYLn
Forecast the Facts is a grassroots organization that empowers people to fight climate change denial and promote accurate information about the climate crisis. You can follow us on Twitter, and like us on Facebook. Help us end climate denial once and for all by contributing here.
Aren't Real Journalists hard enough to find already?
It’s now been almost a year since journalist and activist Barrett Brown’s was arrested—basically for doing his job.
Brown—whose reporting shed light on the too-cozy relationship between private security firms, lobbyists, and the US government—faces up to 105 years in prison. His biggest crime? Pasting a link, in a chat room, to leaked documents available on WikiLeaks -- which is well within his First Amendment rights.
Now the court has issued a gag order forbidding him or his lawyers from talking about his case to the media—making all too clear their purpose from the beginning: to silence journalists. Demand the Justice Department preserve the First Amendment and drop their charges against Barrett Brown.
Brown did what all journalists do on a daily basis—shared a hyperlink to a set of documents readily available online. This case could criminalize completely normal and necessary journalistic practices and severely endanger the First Amendment.
His intrepid journalism helped shed light on a shadowy underworld of corporate espionage, and a meticulously engineered smear campaign against anti-corporate activists, defenders of WikiLeaks, and liberal journalists like Glenn Greenwald.
On the anniversary of Barrett Brown’s arrest, those of us who still believe in the power and importance of journalists and whistleblowers to check the (often abusive) power of our government MUST make our voices heard. Click here to sign in support of Barrett Brown, and join the fight against censorship and suppression.
Brown is merely the latest victim in the administration’s ongoing war against investigative journalism, whistleblowers, and those who would expose the unflattering, undemocratic, and often criminal activities of the US government and its corporate allies.
Please don’t let September 12 go by unmarked. Join us in condemning this administration’s war on journalists—and war on truth.
Thank you,
Demand Progress Team Paid for by Demand Progress (DemandProgress.org) and not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee. Contributions are not deductible as charitable contributions for federal income tax purposes.
Hmmmmmm - and MSM wonders why they have lost credibility?
Jimmy Kimmel Duped The Entire World — And The Biggest Sucker Was The News Cycle
But but but . . . . it was on the internet thingy!
I have a nice afternoon surprise for you, your very own news show.
While the Koch Brothers were busy buying up media, we've been busy creating a bold new kind of media that stands up for the people - and we want to know what you think of our latest big project: Channel 98 Take Action News, with Nicole Carty.
We think you're going to love it - if you like what you see at the link, you can subscribe there to receive future episodes:
http://other98.com/channel-98-take-action-news-episode-1/
Thank you for all you do to make this movement - and alternative media - real.
Sincerely,
John Sellers, The Other 98%
The Other 98% is making democracy work for the rest of us.
Our website is http://other98.com/.
BTW - TWEET
DKAtoday @DKAtoday
Channel 98 Take Action News: Kochs Defeated + Sequester Body Count! http://other98.com/channel-98-take-action-news-episode-1/ … via @other98
News 4 U
REALLY !
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When CNBC failed to even mention major climate news like President Obama's Georgetown speech — we noticed. When CNBC's hosts referred to climate change as "theory" and dismissed the need for action — we noticed. And when we called on CNBC to cover climate facts and stop broadcasting blatant misinformation, only to be mocked as a 'cult' by their anchors — we noticed that, too.*
However, we're the only ones who have noticed. CNBC has refused to reply to our emails or calls, and they've pretty much tuned out your demands.
That's about to change. We're on our way to CNBC's headquarters in northern New Jersey right now with more than 40,000 of your signatures, and we're going to make sure they get the message. We're planning to stage our own guerrilla news cast right on their front lawn featuring the testimony of experts, citizens, and survivors of Superstorm Sandy. Can you tune in and join us?
We may not have the big budgets, fancy suits and international satellite network of a station like CNBC, but that doesn't mean we can't show this mega-million dollar cable network what real climate news coverage looks like. Tune in with us today at 2 p.m. online, and we'll show you a thoughtful, well-sourced news show on climate change — you know, the thing CNBC is supposed to be doing every day.
We promise you a fun, educational, 30-minute news program, and a great opportunity to show CNBC and other cable news networks what real reporting can look like. Will you tune in and watch us show CNBC how it's done?
Thanks, see you at 2 p.m.
Drew Hudson Director, Environmental Action
PS - you can also follow the event live on Twitter at the hashtag #climatetruth and on our Facebook page
* Denise Robbins, After Petition, CNBC Unveils A "Special Week Of Climate Coverage", Media Matters for America, August 20, 2013
TWEET
DKAtoday @DKAtoday
A CNBC climate broadcast you won't want to miss | Environmental Action: http://www.environmental-action.org/action/cnbc-climate-broadcast-you-wont-want-miss#.UiYXGKmW32M.twitter …
Open in a new tab - on at 2pm don't miss it.
Starts in just a few minutes: ( 2pm eastern )
http://www.environmental-action.org/action/cnbc-climate-broadcast-you-wont-want-miss#.UiYXGKmW32M.twitter
climate denial is bad for business
and business is the only religion we support
Climate denial is bad for people - business supports climate denial. Kind of like minimum wage is bad for people - business supports minimum wage as the alternative might be a minimum "living" wage,
business has no opinion ?
Re-read the comment.
[-] 8675309 points by DKAtoday (8675309) from Coon Rapids, MN
Thank you so much for speaking out against climate denial. Together, more than 30,000 Environmental Action members and allies have demanded that CNBC improve its coverage.
We know they heard us because one CNBC show has already dedicated a week of coverage to climate change. Unfortunately, it's only a low-rated show on international business that aired at 4 a.m. EST, and the majority of coverage is unchanged.*
Climate denier in chief Joe Kernan, meanwhile, continues his attacks on climate science, and CNBC has a long way to go to reflect the full truth of climate change.
So we're not going away either—instead, we're going all the way to CNBC headquarters.
We're bringing climate reality to the streets of Englewood Cliffs, NJ, by creating our own broadcast featuring area Environmental Action members and survivors of Hurricane Sandy. The event will be held next Tuesday, September 3 at 2 p.m.
The best way to get CNBC's attention is by showing them we can make our own news and bringing the story to them. If they won't report climate change truthfully, we'll do it right on their front lawn.
To do that, we need to raise $1000 to cover the costs of a portable TV set, film crew, and tech support for a live stream so you can watch our climate-news broadcast from home next Tuesday. Can you chip in $15, or whatever you can afford so we can make our own climate news?
Jesse Bacon Environmental Action
*After Petition, CNBC Unveils A "Special Week Of Climate Coverage", Media Matters for America, August 20, 2013
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Outrageous. NBC has been running ads by a foreign oil company promoting the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline but refused to run a powerful ad debunking Big Oil propaganda and urging President Obama to stand up for climate.1
The rejected ad,2 which had already been paid for and was yanked at the last minute, was scheduled to run in the Washington DC area during President Obama's appearance last night with Jay Leno on the Tonight Show.
Tell NBC: Stop censoring ads opposing the Keystone XL pipeline to appease your Big Oil advertisers.
NBC affiliate WRC claimed that the ad, produced by NextGen Climate Action, violated its guidelines which state that it "may reject" an ad if "it is merely an attack of a personal nature, a direct attack on an individual business or a comment on a private dispute."3
But NBC has been running misleading ads by the fossil fuel industry on station after station and burying Washington DC decision makers with pro-pipeline propaganda. The rejected ad is clearly not "merely" a personal attack on an individual or a business. TransCanada is a foreign oil company that has spent tens of millions of dollars -- including on television ads -- to insert itself into the heart of the U.S. policy making on one of the most pressing issues of our generation, climate change.
It is unacceptable for the network to disingenuously exploit this policy, which is meant to protect individuals from spurious attacks, in order to block messaging from climate change activists that counter TransCanada's false claims.
Tell NBC: Stop censoring ads opposing the Keystone XL pipeline to appease your Big Oil advertisers.
Our campaign to stop the Keystone XL pipeline and hold the president accountable for his promise to take meaningful action on climate is making real progress.
Just last Friday, the news broke that the State Department's Inspector General had launched an investigation into the contractor that drafted the controversial environmental analysis of the Keystone XL pipeline.4
The investigation follows an article in Mother Jones reporting that the contractor, ERM, had ties to both TransCanada (the foreign company that wants to build the proposed pipeline) and the powerful oil lobby the American Petroleum Institute.5
And two weeks ago the president had strong words countering TransCanada's pro-pipeline propaganda, telling the New York Times, "we're talking about somewhere between 50 and 100 jobs in a economy of 150 million working people.6"
The president went on to say that the proposed Keystone XL pipeline "does not bring down gas prices here in the United States. In fact, it might actually cause some gas prices in the Midwest to go up."
These statements, combined with a resurgence of grassroots activism opposing approval of the Keystone XL pipeline, have put TransCanada and those who place Big Oil's interests before those of the American people on the defensive. Over 70,000 Americans have signed a Pledge of Resistance7 (organized by CREDO Action with our allies at Rainforest Action Network and The Other 98%) to risk arrest to block approval of the pipeline. And anti-Keystone XL actions are erupting every week in communities across the nation.
We can't let them silence us as they strike back at our efforts to hold the president accountable on this issue.
Tell NBC: Stop censoring ads opposing the Keystone XL pipeline to appease your Big Oil advertisers.
The forces arrayed against us are powerful. They are spending tens of millions of dollars. Hiring legions of lobbyists. Controlling politicians at nearly every level of government. But with your grassroots pressure -- including those people who have been putting their bodies on the line -- we've been able to stop them from building this pipeline that would mean "game over" for our climate.
We need to fight TransCanada and Big Oil at every turn. A massive response to NBC and its affiliate in Washington DC will help ensure that any other media outlet will think twice before trying to censor our messages.
Please join me in taking action now.
Becky Bond, Political Director CREDO Action from Working Assets
Automatically add your name: Sign the petition ►
Learn more about this campaign
Rebecca Leber, "After Airing Pro-Keystone XL Ads, NBC Station Rejects Ad Opposing The Pipeline," Think Progress, August 7, 2013.
NextGen Climate Action KeystoneXL Commercial, Youtube.
NBC Universal Advertising Guildines PDF, NBCUadstandards.com.
Zack Colman, "State Dept. watchdog launches inquiry into Keystone environmental report," The Hill, August 2, 2013.
Andy Kroll, "State Dept. Hid Contractor's Ties to Keystone XL Pipeline Company," Mother Jones, March 21, 2013.
The New York Times Interview with President Obama, The New York Times, July 27, 2013.
Keystone XL Pledge of Resistance, CREDO Action.
© 2013 CREDO. All rights reserved.
We’re just one day away from the National Conference for Media Reform — three days of activism, art and all-around awesomeness.
Thousands will join us in Denver to experience the biggest and best conference dedicated to changing the media and building a better democracy. But we want everyone to experience the conference, whether they’re able to join us in person or not.
So this Friday at 10 a.m. we’re launching our livestream at conference.freepress.net. Click here to see which sessions we’ll highlight.
You can catch sessions and interviews with speakers, tweet at presenters, see images from the conference … and get inspired by people like you who are fighting to protect our right to communicate and connect.
We hope you’ll join us!
Best,
Candace, Mary Alice, Misty and the rest of the conference team conference.freepress.net
P.S. Live in or near Colorado? Have a friend or relative in the area who’s a perfect match for our conference? It’s not too late to join us in person! On-site registration starts on Thursday at 5 p.m. in the Sheraton Denver Downtown Hotel. So pull out a map, gas up your car, grab a friend and get yourself to Denver. You’ll be glad you did.
Free Press is a nonpartisan organization building a nationwide movement for media that serve the public interest. Learn more at www.freepress.net.
Join us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
God knows how much murdoch paid to who to create massive press conglomerates.
Break em up!
But the only way that happens is with legislation
can you name a single R that would vote for this
2014
Those in office right now - State & Federal must be polled.
If I lived in Denver, I might go. There are several presenters that I would like to see. I would really like to see Michael Copps. Fission strategy is a pr group. I'm all good with the pr groups. I'm also pretty much done with the Nation. It looks pretty interesting.
Yeah - wish I could afford to go. Am gonna Tweet for larger circulation.
That bird is actually quite beautiful.
Communication taking flight. {;-]) Beautiful
We certainly need major media reform! I say break up the media conglomerates, remove ad based revenue, Have penalties for dishonesty, Have public mechanism for reaction that is viewable.
can't make it, maybe they'll have an on line access/streaming thing.?
High priority issue, Excellent post!
Thx
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So this Friday at 10 a.m. we’re launching our livestream at conference.freepress.net. Click here to see which sessions we’ll highlight.
Thx, I see that now that I have perused deeper.
The film trailers look good, Amy Goodmans (She's MY Beyonce too!) quote is excellent.
I'll be watching.
Ex-cellent action item.-- Educate ourselves!!
Educate the public - they need to understand the fact - that they are not getting the news - but are in fact getting corpoRAT propaganda/twist/spin for the owners agenda.
We are woefully uninformed BECAUSE of conglomerate media/oligarchal collusion.
This is not the 1st media conference, and it won't be the last.
(And.......up bump up)
Another important issue for the public to address. Facts not Fiction to be presented by all media services - reports to be in FULL context - not snipits No Spin - this to include advertisements as well as news service.
I'm really not a fan of ANY censorship -
an alternative might be to broadcast a FACTCHECK every day
Factcheck is one thing - the FCC is already supposed to be monitoring for truth in broadcasting - that includes taking/broadcasting information out of context and truth in advertising.
Agreed.
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TWEETED can U Re-Tweet?
Recieved interesting E-Mail about reforming the Press. What do you think? http://occupywallst.org/forum/recieved-interesting-e-mail-about-reforming-the-pr/#.UQBMu0xNWQA.twitter … FOOD4THOUGHT pls Share/Circulate