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We Need Your Help to Fight Media Consolidation |
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At The Seminal, we’ve written about media consolidation several times before. This time is perhaps the most urgent.
FCC Chairman Kevin Martin has announced a December 18th vote on whether or not newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership should be further deregulated. About 750 people showed up to oppose Martin’s plan at a hearing in Seattle last week, despite being given just seven days notice. Bill Moyers has a great video about the hearing, and much more.
Rule changes such as the one Martin is proposing are designed to further consolidate media ownership into the hands of the powerful few. Free Press conducted a study which found that while minorities make up 33% of the U.S. population, they make up just 3.26% of all TV station owners. Download the full study as a PDF here.
At the hearing, FCC Commissioner Michael Copps said: “The commission always seems to be on the fast break to help big media, but it’s slow as molasses when the topic is the public interest. I will fight against any efforts to short-circuit the process.” Kudos to Commissioner Copps, but if we are going to stop this dangerous deregulation, we are all going to have to fight alongside him.
Fortunately, there are a few things you can do right now to help us fight Chairman Martin’s plan.
- Senators Byron Dorgan (D-ND) and Trent Lott (R-MS) have introduced legislation which would require the FCC to remedy the relative lack of minority media ownership before implementing any rule changes. Cosponsors already include Obama, Clinton, Biden, Kerry and Durbin. Where are Dodd, Feingold, Sanders and the other progressive leaders in the Senate? Use this simple form to write your Senators today, asking them to support S.2332, the Media Ownership Act of 2007.
- Common Cause says it well: “It’s eerily similar to what happened in 2003, when Michael Powell’s FCC voted for rules to allow massive media consolidation without public input… It seems that Kevin Martin hasn’t learned his lesson. He wants to lock the public out of this decision. That’s not acceptable.”
Contact the FCC now and tell them you are opposed to their plans to relax media ownership limits. The vote is scheduled for December 18th, please do this now. - Common Cause is also soliciting stories from anyone who has interacted with the FCC in the past. Attended a public hearing? Submit a comment? Tell your story.
Please do whatever you can to spread the word about this. Media consolidation is one of the most overlooked issues in contemporary political discourse. Without access to diverse and distinct media sources, our Democracy itself is in peril. Make sure your voice is heard on this critical issue.
I mean, isn’t the FCC just plain unconstitutional? Doesn’t its existence violate the 1st Amendment?
I’m putting my hope with the bill in the Senate. FCC commissioners, appointed by presidents, are notoriously capricious. I’d rather pressure Senators, who at least in theory have to answer to voters. So give your Senators a call and ask them to co-sponsor this bill. Tell them the specific resolution number so they can be sure to get it right.
I think Dead Prez ‘Propaganda’ says it best:
“FBI, CIA, ATF, KKK, IRS…. TNT, CBS, NBC”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psdgRH_p3XI&feature=related
The USA is becoming corporate police state.
http://home.comcast.net/~plutarch/PoliceState.html
9/11 was an inside job perpetrated to permit this.
http://home.comcast.net/~plutarch/911.html
Thanks for that Joe…but it seems a bit off topic, no?
Please do whatever you can to spread the word about this. Media consolidation is one of the most important issues facing this country right now. Do not allow the FCC to consolidate the media.
Common Cause said “It%u2019s eerily similar to what happened in 2003, when Michael Powell%u2019s FCC voted for rules to allow massive media consolidation without public input%u2026 It seems that Kevin Martin hasn%u2019t learned his lesson”.
I disagree, I think Kevin Martin learned Powell’s lesson very well. Powell left the administration and now has a highly paid job working for one of the huge media conglomerates he was, until recently, pretending to regulate. Even though Martin is still on the public payroll, it’s obvious that he’s working for his future employer and will soon be rewarded handsomely for betraying the American people and our democracy.
This is outrageous and stinks. The government is controlling everything and all the media as well. The consolodation of media is a BIG mistake.