- Wednesday, 25 November 2009
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It is good to rub and polish our brain against that of others - De Montaigne
FCC Chairman is owned by media conglomerates
THE BAD NEWS: Tuesday, the Federal Communications Commission voted to remove the longstanding 32-year “newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership” ban that prohibits a local newspaper from owning a broadcast station in the same market.
That’s not all. In a series of late night revisions Chairman Martin, fattened his holiday gift to Big Media by granting permanent waivers to companies across the country who have been in breach of the cross-ownership ban for years. Already ignoring the millions who have spoken up against media consolidation, this last-minute immunity for Big Media is a slap in the face to the American people.
Today’s vote was a confirmation that the FCC has turned its back on its own mission and mandate to foster localism, diversity, and competition. The Commission, which is supposed to be dedicated to protecting the public interest on the public’s airwaves, has shown today that it is held hostage by Big Media’s campaign contributions and high-powered lobbyists. Their corrupt process and biased research ensured that they reached a preordained conclusion today to gut the few remaining protections for local media.
The FCC's two Democrats, Commissioners Michael J. Copps and Jonathan S. Adelstein, warned of "loopholes" that would lead to increased media consolidation and barriers to entry for women and minorities. Their biting comments on C-SPAN TV carried far more anger than reading them below.
"We claim to be giving the news industry a shot in the arm, but the real effect is going to be reducing total news-gathering. This is not the way to do rational, fact-based, public-interest-minded policy-making. In the final analysis, the real winners today are businesses that are in many cases quite healthy. The profit margins for the newspaper industry last year averaged around 17.8%, the figure is even higher for broadcast stations. The real losers are going to be all of us who depend on the local news media to learn what is happening in our communities and to keep an eye on local government” Mr. Copps said in a lengthy, harshly worded statement (pdf).
Last week before a Senate Hearing on the issue, Mr.Copps, an opponent of loosening ownership rules said, “We are not the Federal Newspaper Commission.”
Today Mr. Adelstein added: "We've blown so many red lights it would make Mario Andretti blush. Now it's up to Congress and the courts to address the pileup that has resulted."
Addressing the two dissenting commissioners’ criticisms, Mr. Martin said, " While I have and continue to seek consensus, I have come to the conclusion it will never be possible to reach consensus on the media ownership issue."
This fight is far from over, based on the reaction of public interest groups, the 1,100 people who stood outside in Seattle on a cold Friday night awaiting a chance to address the Commission's Fact Finding Board in mid-November. Representative Jay Inslee (D-WA) said of the disrespect for the public that we were all treated like “chumps”.
“The situation isn’t going to repair itself. Big media is not going to repair it. This Commission is not going to repair it,” said Copps. “But the people, their elected representatives, and attentive courts can repair it. Last time the Commission went down this road, the majority heard and felt the outrage of millions of citizens and Congress and then the court. Today’s decision is just as dismissive of good process as that earlier one, just as unconcerned with what the people have said, just as heedless of the advice of our oversight committees and many other Members of Congress, and just as stubborn—perhaps even more stubborn—because this time it knows, or should know, what’s coming. Last time a lot of insiders were surprised by the country’s reaction. This time they should be forewarned.”
Last week, while testifying before the Senate Commerce Committee, Martin was asked by a number of senators to postpone today's vote. Committee member Byron L. Dorgan (D-N.D.) turned up the heat on Martin yesterday with a letter signed by 25 senators – including the committee's vice chairman, Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), -- demanding Martin postpone the vote or face the swift drafting of a bill designed to overturn it.
To add to today's pressure on FCC members, last week during the Senate Hearings, Sen. Trent Lott (R-MS) noted that there are pending nominations for two sitting FCC commissioners: Democrat Jonathan Adelstein and Republican Deborah Tate.
Though Senator Lott had high praise for Adelstein, he said he hoped Tate will help keep the other Republican commissioners in line on this week’s vote. It was a subtle, but stark reminder that only a single senator can block a commissioner’s renomination to the FCC. µ
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rotten in the state of Denmark.
that it appears most people still turn to their local TV station or newspaper for "news".

there is so little real news from those outlets anymore, mostly fluff and eye poping headlines, but little real meat to follow.

That is screwed up above. In the final days of the Bush administration we are seeing a last minute run at all of the changes that will be made. Yep I voted them in as a Republican, and I will be voting them out. It just amazes me that in the end, everyone makes a run at the money.....forget the little guy, forget what the population wants to see. I personally want to see diversity in local broadcasting, diversity in ownership and a ban on one firm owning all of the news assets in a locality.

The good news is it will be an expensive ride for any media company to go down this path when decisions come out preventing this in the future.
That such a thing as the FCC can exist at all in a supposedly "free society" is embarrassing. How can 5 people hold the fate of an entire communications infrastructure in their hands? This smacks of oligarchy.

The only answer is to abolish the FCC and have either no regulation (anarchy of the airwaves), or a democratically elected representative body which oversees communications policy.

The FCC was created to regulate radio waves and spectrum. Since they can't even do that, how can we give them the power to regulate telecoms and cable?

The current situation is untenable. No "democracy" can survive under the current system.
The author speaks to power on the most critical issue in IT, namely who controls access to our 'series of tubes', our cell networks, our airwaves, even our print media. In the words of Barbara Boxer, 'elections have consequences'.

You may not have thought of this....the seamy consequence of letting just anyone publish a hack-rag...The Inquirer could start podcasting again at any time...I can already hear it now: The Everywhere Girl is Having My Baby! Stay tuned... : )
The more big media tightens its grip on the old media, the more new media (The Internet) will grow in the face of their oppression. I already look to sites and blogs for all of my news, so will the next generation.

Let em take their win and shove it.
Or non-american...(dont have anything against the people (generally), but the people in charge/outside appearance, yes)
And while this move is terrifying for those in the US, for reasons that anyone with half a brain can see (and as always, the more you know, the more you're scared), it is also frightening for the rest of the world. The US *heavily* influences the rest of the worlds countries national policies (drug law, copyright, oil, etc). Hopefully nothing like this will propagate to other nations...
Even scarier, however, is that the US has been on a downward trend for awhile, with the corruption of ancient rome, the imperialism of Britain before the fall, and the social control psycho-state of nazi germany. And with their big guns, a lot of innocent people could get hurt when they start to really collapse/get desperate/need to distract the people from their real problems.
Im an optimist, though, and hopefully the American People will stand up to this bull****
Kinda funny that in Canada we get farther and farther apart from US policy, even though they are right next door.....does that say anything?
"this last-minute immunity for Big Media is a slap in the face to the American people."

Oh please, Americans don't care where things come from anymore, least of all the news.

Let's think about America...
They've got poisoned food,
shopping mall shooting sprees,
rigged elections,
a daddy named China who gives his children deadly toys,
major cities which are flooded then the inhabitants are stuck in formaldehyde trailers and left for dead,
a dangerously old infrastructure that is decaying,
gay priests (no offense to gay people),
and to top it off the average American looks like Bhudda and makes about 30K a year.

The whole idea that the American people (an imaginative term at best) are feeling the pain of Big Media's consolidation and greed is so funny it nearly brings me to tears, really. 

Do you honestly think that the American people care if they are (ha, ha) in danger of being misled due to consolidation of news interests?

You've got to be kidding. The story content is alright, but tomorrow when you are reading about the next "American Corporate Government top ten Greedy actions of the day..." please remember that there is no such thing as an indignant American.
i thought most would have known about this even their FDA approves drugs which damage people so why would anyone care about the news.
Sounds like someone else has been influenced by their "news" as well. Wow talk about a pubescient rant about americans... lol Geta clue and a life.. there is no one bangin on the doors to get into your country moron.. lol YAY FOR SOCIAL STATES that garnish 50% of your income .... get a blinking clue