Is The Democratic Congress Willing to Challenge the Gigantic Media Companies, the FCC, and the Washington Lobbyists in Order to Save What Remains of a "Free" Mass Media in Our Country?

I have been paying attention to the FCC since the late sixties when I was with CBS and the Commission issued its Prime Time Access, Financial Interest and Syndication Rules. In my opinion and in the opinion of many, these rules were all politically motivated. In the FCC report and order, the vast majority of reasons given by the FCC for the rulemaking were wrong, not arguably wrong, but totally wrong, and the FCC knew it!

I concluded at that time that the FCC was just doing what the incumbent administration wanted them to do and it mattered not one teeny little bit that the rulemaking was wrong and wrong big time. It appeared to me that the "regulators" were told by Nixon that he wanted to punish the Networks, and the "regulators" did what they were told.

In the intervening forty years the FCC has continued to do more of the same which is to respond to the wishes and interests of the administration, and the public interest is just an expression used from time to time in order to justify what they are doing.

Forty years ago I wished that the FCC commissioners were "doing what they believed to be was right" but sadly they weren't.

Ii is with great sadness that I say the same of the FCC Chairman Kevin Martin today. I have many reasons for questioning his motives, yet it is hard for me to believe that he believes in the reasons that he has given for revising the cross ownership regulations.

I see the evil hands of not less then three groups, and probably four running congruently as it pertains to this issue.

First we have General Electric, the Walt Disney Company, CBS/Viacom, and News Corp all of whom want to get bigger and to have more power and make more money. (Money makes the world go around.)

We also have the lobbyists retained by these companies to do what they do. (Money makes the world go around.)

Then of course we have the legislators who rely on these lobbyists to raise money for their reelection campaigns and just love the issue. (Money makes the world go around.)

And lest we forget, most of all the President and his entire administration who will continue to operate in the dark and in secret as long as they can, and only fear the mass media and the "searchlights" that they own. (Power AND money make the world go around.)

Martin somehow equates the number of stations operating in a market as providing a diversity of voices in news. The only "VERY LOUD VOICES" in America belong to the Television Networks and Newspapers.

If we had 63 Television stations operating in Los Angeles, I would not want one of the "really big guys" owning the Los Angeles Times as it is bad enough that it is owned by the Tribune Company.

The independence of the New York Times is vital to our country. Not one of the New York Television stations speaks to any issues other then the "man bites dog" local stuff. New York Television stations do little to serve in the public interest, and certainly NEVER as it pertains to National issues.

The Washington Post contributes to the airing of different points of view and does investigative journalism unlike what the local stations do most of the time.

I can either laugh or I can cry as I think of General Electric owning the New York Times, or the Walt Disney Company owning The Washington Post, or News Corp owning The Wall Street Journal! (This is a very small joke.)

When I hear Chairman Kevin Martin speak about his silly statistical approach to why cross ownership restrictions are no longer needed I want to scream because he has the power to manifest what he says, and he just did.

The "selling" of the elimination of cross ownership is a "Canard" but sadly "it just aint" a duck.

Chairman Martin, shame on you.

Norman Horowitz
Who wonders if the Democrats will behave any better then the Republicans?

Comments

[Sciguy]

Of course, the Democratic Congress isn't going to challenge the media status quo (Money makes the world go around!). I've given up watching CNN and Headline News - there's no news there any more. It's all just entertainment (assuming that you find Glen Beck entertaining). The original Big 3 networks (CBS, ABC, NBC) have a small amount of news, but not very much. PBS is better - at least Lehrer has some actual news on his show. If one corporation owned everything, it wouldn't make much difference, since all of the television networks offer the same non-news all the time anyway. As for New York television news - as far as New Yorkers are concerned, their local news IS national news. The rest of us keep watching this sludge, and we get more of whatever we've been watching. Ratings rule.



Print media are supposed to cover local as well as national news. A few still do. Most don't - they prefer to emphasize their local news. And let's face it - national news is damned important, but the local bank robberies, local housing markets (our local housing market is doing fine), and weather affect most of us more immediately than FISA or even the Iraq war. Newspapers still serve some national civic duties, but papers are hardly read any more - and when they are read, they have to be of high local interest or written for a general pap-oriented audience (USA Today). Independence is nice, but it doesn't pay. Big corporations make more money when they own most of anything - and monopolies are more profitable than non-monopolies (even in the game Monopoly, you don't make any Monopoly Money unless you own a monopoly on assorted real estates).



Independence - stations and newspapers each being small entities rather than huge corporations - keeps us informed better than non-independence. But non-independence pays better.



Since news is now a lot like non-news shows, take a look at our idea of "entertainment." "Reality" shows. Blood-and-gore shows. Crime shows. Laugh-track-filled sitcoms. Why is all of this crap still around, with more coming every year? Because we watch it.



As noted in the article, regulation is important. However, what we do is also important. If we insist on watching Survivor, we'll get more shows like Survivor. If we insist on watching Nancy Grace or Glenn Beck, we'll get more shows like Nancy Grace or Glenn Beck. If we turn off our televisions, we could make more of an impact than any regulator can - because money makes the world go around. No viewers = no money. No regulation (what we basically have now) means MORE money, because monopolies naturally do well, and viewers (and readers) keep eating it all up.



Yum, yum.

[OSUMercutio]

The way the Clintons have systematically and repeatedly have gone after the press during this campaign and in the past that leads me to believe it will be a bleak future with them back in power.

[HeevenSteven]

Great piece Norman! When you figure out what we can do about it, let us know. Letters to my congress people don't seem to make a dent; and most people are too busy watching and reading the crap the media puts out to know better. They're all in the Matrix!

[SirReal1]

Norman,

I haven't been "involved" as long as you have, but, having been concerned about the FCC rulings since becoming a communications tech in the Military (since 1982) I have been trying to stay "up-to-date" on rulings for over 2 decades.

That said, this might be of interest to you:

http://uanews.org/node/17946

Courtesy of the University of Arizona, a great school with great students.

[desmirl]

The Democrats have the chance to prove their courage. If they fail, we can all express our opinions of they failure this November.

[herronsmith]

This headline made me laugh. He's not talking about the current Congress, is he? I don't think even the use of ALL CAPS is going to get their attention. Let's face it, the media is the landlord and we are the serfs. I wonder if journalists are willing to attack their own? Seems like an appropriate place to start. I would love to see Bill Moyers on Meet the Press Clown.

[LizM]

I'm not so sure that the media - free, mass, or otherwise - is worth saving.