Gore Lashes Out at Media Consolidation

Former Vice President Al Gore said Sunday ever-tighter political and economic control of the media is a major threat to democracy.

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CDD, U.S. PIRG File Comments To FCC In Advance Of Agency's Dec. 7 Workshop

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Poll: Is finding nonpartisan news easier than four years ago?

I recently stumbled across an old business week article from November 2004 that asked the question: Is there a market for nonpartisan news? The article makes a point that non-partisan coverage is vital to our political process.

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On a Thursday in mid-May, the Senate did something that would have been unimaginable a decade ago.

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The U.S. Senate passed a "resolution of disapproval" that will roll back the new media cross-ownership rule.

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Democratic Presidential Candidate Barack Obama singled out the media industry as an area where government needs to be watchful as consolidation increases

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Senate Pushes Back On FCC Media Ownership Rule Relaxation

Using an obscure oversight authority, Thursday night the Senate "disapproved" a recent Federal Communications Commission rule which would relax restrictions on media ownership; it was a voice vote. President Bush has threatened a veto (pdf).

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Excerpt: The new FCC rules eased a 1975 ban on ownership of a newspaper and broadcast outlet in a single market. Similar legislation has been introduced in the House but has not come up for a vote yet.

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From M & C: In Right of the Dial, Alec Foege explores how the mammoth media conglomerate evolved from a local radio broadcasting operation, founded in 1972, into one of the biggest, most profitable, and most polarizing corporations in the country.

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Last December, despite the fact that "99% of public comments did not support further consolidation," and despite the fact that, "Studies show newspapers do not take television and radio stations to task when they are owned by the same outlet," the FCC went ahead and gave big me …

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Protest the FCC's new media rules that permit cross-ownership within markets. The FCC is acting contrary to the public interest; they tried this same trick in 2003 and were turned back by Congress blocking any weakening of regulations.

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Despite overwhelming public opposition, the FCC, in a 3-2 vote ruled to allow further medica consolidation. Act now to tell Congress to overturn the ruling.

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Bill Moyers covers a wild, nine and a half hour public hearing on media consolidation held by the FCC on five days notice in Seattle a couple weeks ago. Look at these citizens hammering the FCC. Outstanding work.

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From the link: "FCC Chairman Kevin Martin announced that the Commission would hold the sixth and final public hearing on media consolidation November 9, 2007 in Seattle, Washington.

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FCC Chairman Kevin Martin was heavily criticized by members of the public, along with his colleagues, at the sixth and final public hearing, held on November 9, 2007, on his planned changes to rules on media consolidation.

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Media laws and regulations are complex.

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Media mogul, Ted Turner, writes about how indapendent media companies cannot be succesful in the shadow of media conglomerates. Media consolidation will discourages localism of the news, diversity, and competition that keeps the news unbiased.

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Polls show that most Americans disagree with the FCC's plans to allow media consolidation, and more than half of those polled want laws making it illegal.

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Obama and Kerry write: "In recent years, we have witnessed unprecedented consolidation in our traditional media outlets. Large mergers and corporate deals have reduced the number of voices and viewpoints in the media marketplace."

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Public opinion on media ownership is clear -- we prefer local voices to consolidated national voices; we want local music and culture; we want a wide range of voices and viewpoints; we want quality journalism and media that is accountable to our commuity values.

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Journalism faces a crisis around the world and unless it's fixed, society is in big trouble, American scholar and media activist Robert McChesney says. "The market's not going to solve the problem.... The technology's not going to rescue us."

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The recently passed "Protect America Act of 2007" (S 1927), which expands presidential powers under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) to spy on our overseas phone and e-mail communications without a court warrant, appears to be just the tip of the iceberg of govern …

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The ongoing crisis of media consolidation continues. The FCC, chaired by Republican Kevin Martin, has not seen a merger that it doesn't like. Conglomerates like Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. are among the most powerful corporations on the planet.

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Mexico's Supreme Court dealt a major blow to the country's powerful and formerly untouchable biggest broadcasters, Televisa and TV Azteca, by declaring several key clauses of a 2006 law unconstitutional.

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Pressures by media companies to generate ever-greater profits are threatening the very freedom the nation was built upon, former CBS News anchor Walter Cronkite warned Thursday.

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Five years ago this week a train derailed in Minot, North Dakota leaking thousands of gallons of toxic chemicals into the air. One person died and hundreds were hospitalized.

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