Bill Moyers tells us:
There's a new twist this week. Despite overwhelming public opposition from across the country and the political spectrum, the Chairman of the FCC, Kevin Martin, isn't letting up in his relentless push to allow a handful of media giants swallow up more of your local media.Rick Karr of the Bill Moyers Journal provides the background: (Go to his site for the links that didn't copy):
He made it official on Tuesday: He intends to lift the longstanding ban that keeps one company from owning both the daily newspaper and a radio or television station in the same market.
The first steps are likely to be taken by the FCC. Its chairman, Kevin J. Martin, has proposed changing what's known as the ”Newspaper/Broadcast Cross-Ownership Rule” (pdf) – in other words, he wants to let newspapers buy radio and TV stations in the cities where they're published.
Martin argues that the change would only affect the country's 20 largest urban areas, but his Democratic colleagues on the FCC disagree (pdf). Martin has set a deadline of Dec. 11 for public comments; sources in Washington tell us that the FCC is likely to vote a week later, on Dec. 18.
You can file a comment with the FCC online. Click on the circle next to "Media Ownership Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking - Docket 06-121," then click "Continue" at the bottom of the page. You can also send comments straight to each of the five commissioners – or the FCC as a whole – via email, phone, fax, or mail. If you choose one of those routes, make sure you mention that you're commenting on "Docket 06-121" - the bureaucracy's name for Martin's proposal.
Congress is getting involved, too. Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND) and Sen. Trent Lott (R-MS) have introduced The Media Ownership Act of 2007, which would delay the FCC vote on Martin's proposal and require the Commission to examine how local communities have been affected by media consolidation. You can find out how to contact your Senators here.
At the FCC hearing in Seattle – which we cover on this week's Journal – Commissioner Michael J. Copps offered one more suggestion: Go straight to the top and let the White House know what you think.
This debate may drag on for months. Martin's agenda has taken flack from Democrats and Republicans alike. Some media firms say it doesn't go far enough. The last time the FCC voted to loosen ownership rules, in 2003, both the Senate and the federal courts got involved.
5 comments:
You know, one can boycott those local newspapers that have been gobbled up. I dropped my decades-long subscription to the Houston Chronicle when they endorsed Bush again in 2004, in an endorsement editorial that was obviously the product of conflict between the owners (obviously genuine Bush zealots) and the editors (obviously not so enthusiastic). Enough is enough; I've done without the paper Chronicle for a few years now. I do not miss it: it's not as if there is a shortage of news sources, many of higher quality. And I don't have five tons of paper a week to recycle...
I've fallen away from reading the Los Angeles Times as well, although they haven't made such a hard right as I expected with new rightwing owners.
I would like to support journalists and newspapers, but as you say, Steve, the tons of paper to recycle is immense...
I just sent the following comment to the FCC using the EFCS page linked from Rick Karr's article:
----------
This is in regard to "Media Ownership Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking - Docket 06-121." I am writing to oppose any rule changes permitting a greater degree of cross-ownership of print and broadcast news sources in a local region such as a large city. I live in a city that would surely be impacted by such changes.
A healthy democracy depends on an informed public. An informed public in turn depends on its free press and media, optimally a diverse collection of sources cross-checking each other and allowing a citizen to make reasonable judgments about events, proposed policies and implementations, actions by leaders, and other matters fundamentally essential to good government.
In short, in a democracy, the cause of good government is ill-served by a general reduction in the number of independent news sources available to citizens.
Yet that is exactly the likely consequence of the proposed relaxation of regulations preventing broader cross-ownership. The last thing America needs is fewer and more centrally controlled sources of news.
---------
I mailed them a letter when it first came up and have complained forever that all of the local radio stations are owned by one company, which for a time was also the largest ISP in town.
OT: did you hear about the Squirrel suicide attacks on the power grid?
Thanks for your letters, you guys. You really are wonderful.
That said, I must now go report this latest terrorist attack on Thanksgiving! They hate our freed.. uh... food!
Post a Comment