FCC Votes for Monopoly, Congress Must Vote for Democracy
The Federal Communications Commission has, as expected, voted along party lines to approve the demand of Rupert Murdoch and other communications-industry moguls for a loosening of limits on media monopolies in American cities.
Now, the real fight begins.
There was never any doubt that FCC chair Kevin Martin, a Bush-Cheney administration appointee and acolyte, would lead the two other Republican members of the commission to a 3-2 endorsement of a move to begin dismantling the historic “newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership” ban which has long served as the only barrier to the buying by one powerful individual or corporation of newspapers, television and radio stations and other media outlets in a community.
The two dissidents on the commission — Democrats Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein — cast their expected votes against Martin’s plan to allow a company in the 20 largest media markets to own both newspapers and radio and television stations. The Martin plan also opens up smaller markets to monopoly exploitation allowing firms to apply for a waiver of the cross-ownership ban.
Arguing that the commission was bowing to pressure from media conglomerates without beginning to study the likely impact on local news coverage, minority ownership and other supposed concerns of the FCC, Copps told his fellow commissioners, “Today’s story is a majority decision unconnected to good policy and not even incidentally concerned with encouraging media to make our democracy stronger. We are not concerned with gathering valid data, conducting good research, or following the facts where they lead us.”
Copps said he had little doubt that Martin and the other two Republicans would move quickly to waive what remains of the cross-ownership ban and begin approving mergers in communities large and small across the whole country.
Martin’s move, while very much in line with the Bush’s administration’s radical pro-corporate agenda, goes against every signal the FCC has gotten from Congress, which is responsible for establishing regulations regarding the ownership of the public’s airwaves.
“The FCC has never attempted such a brazen act of defiance against Congress,” argued Adelstein, in a passionate condemnation of the commission’s actions. “Like the Titanic, we are steaming at full speed despite repeated warnings of danger ahead. We should have slowed down rather than put everything at risk.”
The response to that risk must come from Congress.
Before the vote, 26 members of the Senate — a quarter of the chamber’s members — notified the commission that they would “immediately move legislation that will revoke and nullify the proposed rule.”
The senators making that promise are the key players on communications policy in the chamber, including Commerce Committee chair Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, and the vice chairman of that committee, Ted Stevens, R-Alaska. So they can make the move.
But they will need the full and aggressive support of Democratic leaders in the Senate and House to push back with the force necessary to counter an expected veto by President Bush.
This is one fight where citizen action will matter. Key Republicans such as Stevens and Mississippi’s Trent Lott, the party’s number two man in the Senate, are in complete support of the move to overturn the FCC vote. It is possible to build a broad coalition. But there can be no wavering by the Democrats on this front.
Indeed, they must make this a national issue. And the way to do that is by talking it up where it cannot be ignored. All four Democratic senators who are seeking the presidency signed the letter pledging to revoke and nullify the FCC decision.
Now, New York’s Hillary Clinton, Illinois’ Barack Obama, Connecticut’s Chris Dodd and Delaware’s Joe Biden need to put the issue of media monopoly front and center in Iowa and New Hampshire. Of course, they can and will talk about other issues. But if they are not talking about the fundamental threat to diversity of media ownership in American communities and the country as a whole, they will be failing to use the most powerful bully pulpit in the fight against the monopoly on communication that represents the single greatest threat to the battered democratic discourse of a country where the public’s right to know cannot take this hit and survive.
© 2007 The Nation
There’s no point in trying to “negotiate” with the FCC. It’s high time we all put forth politicians who will fight to ABOLISH the FCC or HEAVILY REFORM IT no matter how “risky” it may look at first glance. The FCC has done nothing in favor of the citizen in the first place at least for the last 27 years and is only going to get worse as long as they have “free” power.
here’s a link for emailing senators and representatives:
http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml
frankly, i’ll be shocked if congress has its act together enough to roll back even this one piece of bush administration evil.
well, what can we do?
perhaps if the republicans weren’t soft on corruption, we’d at least have hope.
and by the way… rep. wexler wants impeachment hearings for dickupisass cheney
please sign the petition at:
www.wexlerwantshearings.com
(he needs 50,000 signatures, and last i checked he had nearly twice that. hope, indeed)
I cant believe what has become of the so-called “Free World”..!
Well, we certainly know we cannot rely on Congress for anything.
The ruling class for which Hillary and the rest of the pack are running will never allow our voices to be represented in the propagandanized media for fear the masses will hear the truth and their eyes be opened to the demise of our dear democracy before their coup is completed. Monopoly is the only answer they see. If our voices are heard the people’s revolution would begin before the elites are ready for us. Kucinich speaks truth to that power and they let him stay because look - he’s barely over 5ft tall and not a threat to anyone currently in power - or so they think. Wouldn’t it be rich, wouldn’t it be grand - a Kucinich victory and in it he doesn’t back down and we occupy the national mall until he is sworn in as President?! If Venezualans can do it surely we can.
If Congress had any balls, the FCC commissioners would find their budget money to run their offices cut off in the omnibus budget bill.
Its not a matter of ‘having their act together.’ Instead, its a question of how many members get big bribes, uh contributions, from these big media companies. In this Congress, money talks.
Locally, we should go on the immediate attack. Whenever one of these new local monopolies starts to form, there should be a strong local attack. Make the point that a community needs more than one voice giving it news and information. And come up with boycott and protest campaigns that would make any local combination back down. Citizens should be able to win a local PR victory by pointing out that its not good for one corporation to be the only voice in a community. A strong enough campaign like that should prove to be highly toxic to a media company in a local market.
PS … even if the opponents of this can’t get enough votes to override a veto, they could still make life miserable for the FCC by running filibusters themselves against any bill the FCC wants passed … including the FCC appropriations for the next year.
Reversing this latest ruling is merely the first step in a process that take the FCC back to what its’ role was envisioned back when it was established in 1941; an agency that regulates the airwaves (which, btw, belong to the public under American law) for the public trust. Along with re-imposing stricter ownership limits, the “Fairness Doctrine” must be re-applied. Remember whenever one of those nimrod news models mouth “Our air,” that is a lie. It is the public’s air.
As revealed on Bill Moyers last week, the Chair of the FCC had his mind made up BEFORE listening to the people. He was just going through the motions. What a joke, he was so obviously a puppet of the regime. (BTW, how old is the FCC chair? 24? Talk about political appointees!) Some of the members of the FCC were furious but apparently overruled.
As with the war, it appears even if a super majority of Americans opposed this, we would be totally blown off. No district is going to throw out their personal Congressman or Senator out over this, as long as they bring home the pork/religion rules/pandering to their area.
America has lost it already. It is like global warming: You know it is coming, you scream at the top of your lungs and your neighbors look at you like you are crazy. Or call you a looney lefty, or worse. America refuses to act until there is a crisis. And a big one. Then everyone says what the BLEEP happened? Why didn’t someone do something? And what can we do? Say we told you so?
So, you just prepare your world as best you can. The corporations have already won.
Have no fear. Congress can hardly wait to bless the actions of the FCC. Our media will soon become what is essentially a single entity, controlled, as in any good dictatorship, by a single entity - the Emperor.
One strains to hear the distant rolling thunder that betokens the approach of Congress, riding like an elite cavalry over the horizon to rescue a captive and beleaguered We the People!
But so far, all I hear are the crickets under the Bush.
FREE SPEECH IS NOT A COMMODITY
In a new book, “Tyranny of the Market”, Joel Walfogel explains that when fixed costs are high, like in the newspaper and radio business, only the central mass of the audience will be served at the expense of the smaller interest groups.
Martin has explained that this is why he believes fixed costs should be used more efficiently, and is the reason given for his decision to concentrate ownership.
Martin treats speech like a commodity, like oil or pork bellies, for which the costs can be reduced by concentrating more production outlets under one source of fixed costs.
Martin is mistaken.
Under this model, the demographic profile is sliced up and put back together again by the marketing experts for maximum contact with eyes and ears who have certain tastes and preferences, which are then targeted for commercial purposes.
News and related events become a byproduct, a sufficient condition to keep the necessary condition front and center.
Like any MSM, news becomes a mirror of the demographic profile, designed to tweak and tease but alarm only under circumstances of total control.
“Watch the fire. See the fire. It’s burning. Authorities said it’s burning. We have evidence it’s burning. See, it’s burning. Will it burn more? We’ll see, right after this commercial for Big Pharma Pills that cure Restless Eye Blink Syndrome, and coming next, is a pedophile living on your block?.”
News is not a commodity like oil or pork bellies. It cannot thrive and survive under an ownership that disagrees with its content.
What is not said under such conditions is far more important that what is. And when employees are asked what is not said, they never tell, because they’re employees.
Instead, they always say no one told them what to say, which is true. No one told them what to say or how to say it in that last article. But that’s not the point.
What about that controversial subject that was ignored, the corruption in city hall, the corporate manipulation, the voting fraud, the hidden leak of poison gas? No one will ever know, will they? Not you, not them and not the public.
They got rid of all that inefficient stuff under the new rules that relaxed ownership. restrictions. Now here, take your pill - your eyes are blinking too fast.
What is the merger of the Corporate and the State a definition of?
Martin may as well have goose-stepped out of the room after the vote.
Hasn’t anyone noticed that under Bush, this country is becoming a Nazi regime, with total control using for example, the Patriot Act,and most of the Democrats go along with this crap. The only one I see that will be for the working class, retired, poor and middle class is John Edwards. He is the only one who is addressing issues for the average American. I liked Ron Paul until I heard him say he wanted to get rid of Education Dept and Social Security. In a perfect world that may be good, but in the real that would not be compassionate. Not every one starts on the same playing field and not everyone can bring themselves up by their boot straps. The wealthy and the top elite of this country would like it is only they received the perks and let everyone else serve them. Why do voters keep putting in the same career politicians- old geezers who don’t give a damn about them except their vote when needed. People vote against their own best interest. I am an Independent and vote the issues and its been too many years that the politicians from top to bottom have done anything for the average American. The FCC, as other government agencies/subsidiaries, the Senate and House of Representatives, governors and state legislators are all owned by big business. The Republicans always believed in “Profit Before People” and the Democrats are following the same path. None of them are worth anything! We need to vote out all the incumbents in all levels of government as their re-elections come up, but that won’t happen- as I said people vote against their own interests and the FCC will not be changed, it is all for show. There will not be anything important done to control the FCC. The government of the United States should be called The “United States of Big Business protection at the cost of the American people” The joke is on the American people who that’s been going on for many years. The New World Order is here and it can not be stopped. Slowly our constitution is being destoryed while the government continues to say ” everything is A okay!”
Is any group considering a citizen-based lobbying campaign? A strong citizen-based lobbying campaign? How about COMMON CAUSE?
This is just one more in Bush’s string of obscenities to be left behind as a legacy for the American public to swallow & choke on as the twit strides off toward his Presidential library.
Congress MIGHT respond if the pressure from the voting public gets bad enough. Without such pressure, however, it will be only more of the same–their individual votes being bought & paid for by sizable campaign contributors.
I am still embarrased by the Congressional vote that made it sharply more difficult for an individual to declare bankruptcy in this country–delivered & tabulated just a few weeks after release of the Harvard study demonstrating that 60% of the bankruptcies in this country are declared by individuals & families dealing with the fallout of lost jobs and/or unanticipated medical emergencies. But hey, the credit-card industry wanted that vote. And the credit-card industry lobbyists make lovely campaign contributions. Any questions? We should all be ashamed of ourselves.
I signed a petition for congress to overturn this thing. Paste the following into your browser to sign a letter to congress to overturn this decision. I tried copying it as a link, but it didn’t work…sorry
http://action.freepress.net/campaign/sbmopenletter?rk=k7xnGN91uyCvE
it did seem to work, sign it now!!
Freepress petition: Signed.
The link above works just fine.
More than ever before, be ready for more “plunderphonics, mainscream blender sonics, and cut and paste the hyperbole to better “tunes”
http://kaputtradio.libsyn.com/
I know a few people trying to organize a “Smash Your Cable Box Event” in central Massachusetts. When I get the details I’ll share them.
I heard this story on NPR at 6am. As of this evening, only one of the major networks is even reporting this story. More curiously, if you search for “FCC” on every network, you will discover the exact same story. Even the winter storm stories are identical, word for word, amongst all the major “news” outlets. Seems to me that we are getting the exact same news from corporate America no matter what we watch or read in mainstream media. That’s why my reliable news source for many years now has been commondreams.org. Real reporting from honest independent journalists, which is very much appreciated.
At this rate there will be no need for a police state. They have control of nearly all the information. All they have to do now is train the population like the pack of graveling dogs they nearly are already.
“Circus dogs jump when the trainer cracks a whip, but the well trained dog turns sumersaults when their is no whip.”
George Orwell
“the Chair of the FCC had his mind made up BEFORE listening to the people. He was just going through the motions. What a joke, he was so obviously a puppet of the regime. (BTW, how old is the FCC chair? 24? Talk about political appointees!) ”
One of Karl’s Katamites discovered in the bathroom stalls during one of the Glory ‘Ole Party rallies, definitely.
When David Brock, who authored the hit book on Anita Hill, later pulled back the curtain on the reactionary gay right wing, the media went berserk; people like Kevin Martin and Erik Prince and Rove et al are members of the homoerotic right, with its cult of violence; liberals can never even consider the question, — while publically supporting gay rights, they have to protect those staffers and advisors whose mates are highly visibly and vulnerable in the masculinist culture of the right. Why else would a representative from San Francisco refuse to consider impeachment & senators from SF and NYC come in so reliably on the side of the Smirk’s admin?
Remember Smirk’s comment to one of his old pals who came out to him — “We’re better friends than ever”? Fascist queens — like Gonzales, Rove, Michael Weiner-Savage, and Kevin Martin — have always doted on the Smirk, probably from prep school onward, and like Meirs, Hughes, Rice, etc., form a loyal phalanx about his phallus.
“Vee ver only following auders” is getting closer to reality. Every week is a new scandal or another nail on the coffin of democracy. But “be happy, don’t worry”, American Idol is returning to “our airwaves”, coutesey of the FCC.
This is the same bullshit they tried to shove up our asses when Michael Powell, you know the son of that great American patriot that gave us My Lia massacre and cartoon drawings of WMD … these bastards never sleep. They never stop coming at us. Never.
It’s time for “pirate” broadcasting all over again. I grew up as the media tried to, from nothing but radio/newspapers to what we have today. And while we’ve climbed from copper wire to optic cable, the content has sunk from intelligently paranoid to a simple cesspool. What do I want high def for, reruns of I Love Lucy? Who is the criminal when a media source has to defy authority to get anything on the air worth a damn?
not being a u.s. citizen and not familiar with their politics, can someone please translate this gobblydegook into simple english for me and tell me exactly what it means. thankyou.
coco
You know.. PODCASTING is potentially a great way to get around the stupid MSM. I have ceased to listen to the TV news entirely!! I mainly listen to Podcasts. Some are quite good.
You can also go outside of the US and listen to foriegn news broadcasts. The Guardian has several shows.
THERE ARE alternatives.
You can create your OWN podcast too.. go out, create your own news.. and like VIRAL media.. spread the word!
WE don’t have to take it. There are options. Now if we can hold on to Nuetral Internet .
A really good person to listen to who has a podcast is DAN CARLIN. Everyone listens to him, LEFT RIGHT and CENTER.. He has two shows that are equally good. COMMON SENSE (where he discusses various issues in a COMMON SENSE sort of way and his Hardcore History show that deals mainly with ancient history BUT he presents history in a really interesting way.. that makes you think. )
WE CAN TAKE BACK OUR MEDIA.
TURN OFF YOUR TV’s and CREATE IT AND FIND IT!
coco: The Federal Communications Commission was set up to prevent news monopolies by private companies so that the US public would have access to a broad range of opinion and factual information including good coverage of local issues and speedy information service during local crises such as tornados, earthquakes, fires, etc. The fly in the ointment has always been pressure from advertisers with vested corporate interests that conflict with public interests. In 1996, Congress passed a law which President Clinton supported that allowed media buyouts which have been amassing and has left nearly 92% of all US news access, broadcast, cable, magazines and newspapers, in the hands of six huge corporations, mostly five with vested interests in war profiteering and continued environmental abuses. To top that off, five of these control (and adjust) the exit polling for our presidential elections. Now, the Republican-appointed FCC board members have voted to allow increased multi-media buyouts in the same markets by the same corporations, further limiting competing information sources. Unchallenged by congressional legislators, there will be no incentive to report news that might conflict with the corporate ownership’s interests or, typically, the ruling party’s. A monopoly on news, opinion and a blackout on what the media corporations don’t want people to hear about or don’t care to be bothered with is the result. Much of the world stands aghast right now thinking that Americans are aware of the news that the rest of the world is getting. But, only a minority of Americans have the opportunity to access the internationally available information on the internet. The great majority of the citizenry have been fed information blackouts and lies through their only sources of information, the mainstream media (MSM).
URTHSONG
thankyou for your time and trouble to explain. it makes sense now. and therefore LEFT OF LEFT deciphers the ‘FCC’ accurately. i could think of a few more myself now. how long do you think before this source of ‘real’ news will be taken away or controlled?
The timing of this power play tells us a lot. It gives the right wing moguls enough time to consolidate their monopolies prior to the general election. They will control the majority of news the population reads in regards to the candidates and the vote itself.
The coup is in full swing, folks.
Can anyone say “Rosebud”?
Citizen Murdoch looks set to become defacto ruler of the west.
Fortunately, there’s enough people here who don’t subscribe to any of Sky (Net?) Corporation’s mind-scrubbing will-sapping products to resist.
Kudos to the dissenting democrats on the panel. They’ll need all our help blocking this disturbing move.
i hate rupert murdoch .. glad to get that out of me thanks board
“which is responsible for establishing regulations regarding the ownership of the public’s airwaves”
Ownership of public waves? is that an oxymoron?
You mean this Congress?
“You know.. PODCASTING is potentially a great way to get around the stupid MSM.” …I mainly listen to Podcasts.”
Aren’t you totally reliant on the Apple Corporation then?
Considering that the internet is not protected by any kind of public interest or common carrier laws, the corporations are working hard to find ways to limit internet “content*” to the news and culture that THEY want you to see, hear or read.
For now, the internet does provide a counterweight to the MSM (albeit mostly to just the middle class and higher) But capitalism, in it’s infinite creativity, will find a way to either force sites like this one “out of business” or drown them out so they can be ignored - something which thay are already pretty much successful.
At any rate, we need to be cautions about self-help-type solutions like Podcasts as replacements for a vibrant broadcasting and print media opeating in the public interest. In particular, the corporate media would be very pleased at the derogatory comments some here have directed at the FCC - which will be only as good or as bad as the politicians running it.
Media monopoly or not, what in hell is the difference? Well, I guess there is one small difference: the careless, uninformed majority will become misinformed. WTH (what the hell).
Wouldn’t you love to have the codes of all the Swiss bank accounts of the greedy amoral members of this entire corrupt government? We could sure have some fun.
Knew what the outcome of this vote would be all along. It was sad to listen to the impassioned pleas of the concerned citizens across America as they spoke out about this latest FCC attempt. Sad, because I knew it was inevitable.
Look, these people are desperate to maintain their control. There are cracks in the surface of this ill-fated ship. People are slowly (really slowly) beginning to wise up to the game. The CD people and others who are like-minded have been paying attention since day one (or at least since day three). But everyday ordinary people, the ones that here-to-fore believed the hype and just shut up and kept shopping, are starting to say, “Hey wait a minute”… The hard, cold reality is starting to hit them. Regardless of what brought this on, whether it was their middle class dreams slipping away, war without end or whatever, everyday people are getting pissed.
I don’t know about your town, but I noticed as I drive by that the parking lots at the malls and other stores don’t seem to be quite as full this Christmas. I’ve been trying to gage the thoughts of people who wouldn’t know “Common Dreams” from sweet dreams to find out if the things communicated on this site were even a small reflection of everyday people and they seem to be. THEREFORE, if people who have been happily connected to the Matrix are starting to unplug, then it stands to reason that the major corporations using the power of the major corporate media would be desparately trying to hold on to their influence. When there are hundreds (nee thousands) of separately owned media outlets with all different bents, opinions and whatnot it’s REALLY hard to control the masses. Listen democracy is messy.
I have suggested on CD before that we (citizens) must write a formal declaration of independence from Corporate media and it must be done today. I even offered a sample and suggested that someone fine tune it and we as citizens convene a virtual convention to iron out all the fine points and sign it and get others in their communities to sign it.
I like the idea about smashing the cable box day mentioned earlier. The only downside to that in my area would be losing the Free Speech TV programming and municipal channel where you can see all the city government stuff.
What is Ted “Internet-is-a-series-of-tubes” Stevens doing on ANY committee regarding technology?
Hey! We still have the anti-trust laws. We also have an adminstration that picks its cronies for all government agencies and that ignores ALL OF Our Laws. We don’t need a conglomerate, what we do need is a staunch Congress that upholds the anti-trust law and installs another Fairness Doctrine that covers not only the newspapers, but the broadcasting companies as well. One thing about Bush’s evil doers is that they never rest.