Corporate media, democracy and the FCC

In 'Rich Media, Poor Democracy,' communications scholar Bob McChesney wrote about how democracy tends to be the first casualty in the collision of big media and big money. As keynote speaker at the Nov. 3 Citizen Media Forum put on by Twin Cities Media Alliance, he continued the theme in a discussion about "journalism's freefall" and the challenges and triumphs of the fledgling media reform movement, which has grown exponentially since he founded its top advocacy group, Free Press, in 2002.

One of the biggest feathers in the movement's cap is the massive public campaign in 2003 that stalled the Federal Communications Commission's attempt to relax media ownership rules. Another is the halting of attempts to ban "network neutrality," the policy that ensures all web users, regardless of wealth or influence, get equal access.

But both of these successes are again facing threats. Under new chair Kevin Martin, the FCC is scrambling to relax longstanding rules governing media consolidation. It announced, with only one week's notice, that the final public hearing on media ownership will be held in Seattle this Friday, Nov. 9. By year's end, the Commission may change the provision that prevents the same company from owning both a TV station and newspaper in the same town. And net neutrality remains under fire, thanks to the telecommunications and cable industries that want to replace an equal-access Internet with a two-tiered scheme that McChesney calls a "fast lane" and a "dirt path."

http://www.tcdailyplanet.net/node/7875

Here's what you can do:


Contact Congress. Congress has oversight power over the FCC. If the FCC won't listen to the public, then Congress must step in. Ask your Representative to hold full public hearings on the issue of media ownership right away - before Congress adjourns for the holiday recess.



Contact the FCC. Tell the FCC not to let Big Media get even bigger. The media ownership rules govern how we get news and information -- and that's especially important in an election year. Without diverse sources of information, we can't have a healthy debate about our nation's future, or a healthy democracy.


http://www.commoncause.org/site/pp.asp?c=dkLNK1MQIwG&b=192086