Why Not More Media Consolidation?

I wrote this in an op-ed piece published more then 6 years ago in the Los Angeles Times

"Yet the media moguls of the mid-20th century have been supplanted by the media tyrants of the 21st century, who control the vast majority of what we see in all forms of television, what we learn about our world, what news we hear, what documentaries are made and, most important, they have power over our electoral process by exposing or not exposing candidates to the electorate in a manner never envisioned by the Federal Communications Commission, the Justice Department or any of the agencies that ostensibly attempt to regulate information monopolies.

Our nation could speak with many voices, but regrettably, it doesn't. Scary, isn't it?"

While at the moment, the villains in the process are the Republicans, the Democrats are just as susceptible to being compromised when they have the power, (just look at the 1996 Communications Act re-write.)

This administration, (like so many in the past), would like us to have as little diversity in our media as possible, and be able to control access for such content into our homes.

At some time in the future will the government be bashful about determining what we watch and listen to on cable or on the Internet? (National security you know). The greater the consolidation, the easier it is for the government to accomplish this either by law or by pressure on the media companies.

It has been the stated goal of our illustrious Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to promote media competition, diversity, and localism, but what is the FCC is doing to assist America achieve competition, diversity, and localism? It is trying its best to eliminate a very free and very open Internet. Is it possible that the lobbyists for General Electric, News Corp, Walt Disney, the Cable giants, the Telco's and CBS are working in favor of this?

If the FCC does what it appears to be doing, ATT, Time Warner, and Comcast will control over half of the high speed internet connections in our country.

When ATT merges with Bell South, they, along with Verizon, will control over 2/3 of American local phone connections.

Comcast and Time Warner are in the process of devouring Adelphia Cable, and are clustering their holdings to reduce their operating costs and increase their market leverage. This will allow them control over national and regional programming services. For an added bonus, they will ultimately become America's dominant broadband providers.

It would be nice to think that the FCC will only approve mergers that will protect the public interest, but just look at its history. It uses glowing terminology to describe its horrid actions.

I know that it can't/won't happen, but it would be interesting if the Congress investigated the FCC in order to determine if any if any of these actions serve the interests of "competition, diversity, and localism," or are these just words that the FCC uses when convenient.

In our extremely complex media society, there should, by law, be as much media diversity as possible. It is the only way to reduce the reality of an Orwellian "Big Brother" scenario.

In conclusion, BREAK UP THE YANKEES. AND THE RED SOX TOO!