Live radio and live radio announcers could become extinct! On June 2, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is scheduled to vote on whether to relax the rules for owning American news media.
The issue is a critical one. The current rules safeguard the media against total monopolization by a handful of corporations; among other things, they prevent one broadcast network from owning another broadcast network, limit the number of local broadcast stations that any one broadcaster can own to systems serving 35 percent of the TV-viewing households in the United States, and prohibit ownership of newspapers and TV stations in the same community. If they are lifted or relaxed, business analysts are unanimous in predicting that a wave of media mergers will ensue that will dwarf even the merger mania of the 1990s. If these mergers go forward, cities across the United States will find themselves with one or two companies dominating nearly all of their major media options. The nation's largest communications corporation giants are using all their lobbying muscle to ram the changes through the FCC, helped along by FCC Commission Michael Powell's fierce ideological inclination toward deregulation, to win Congressional consent to additional assaults on public-interest protections. A joint statement filed with the FCC by Fox, NBC (Telemundo) and Viacom (CBS) argues that "there is no longer any public-interest need served by the commission's ownership rules." If further media concentration is allowed, the likely stampede of mergers would give a handful of large corporations greater influence over what is - and is not - reported in the news. Practices like voice-tracking and cookie-cutter radio formats are only possible because of the alarming consolidation of media ownership in this country. Since the Telecommunications Act of 1996 gutted radio ownership rules, media companies like Clear Channel started gobbling up their competitors. The public's ability to have open, informed discussion with a wide variety of viewpoints would be severely compromised.
A healthy democracy is best served by a diverse marketplace of ideas. Tell the FCC to preserve current media ownership rules for the sake of competition, market fairness and diversity of ideas. You can help by sending Commissioners Powell, Abernathy and Martin e-mails urging them not to rush to overhaul the regulations, until there's ample opportunity for the public to comment on proposed rules. (The other two commissioners, Jonathan Adelstein and Michael Copps, are in favor of regulation and have been battling in support for months.)
FCC chairman Michael K. Powell , mpowell@fcc.gov
Commissioner Kathleen Abernathy , kabernat@fcc.gov Commissioner Kevin Martin , kjmweb@fcc.gov or FCC fax (202) 418 0188 |
| Maintainer: AFTRA (aftranetwork@aftra.com) |  |